A Bed of Leaves
by Violetscented
Summary: This takes place after "Save Henry" (epi 9, seas 3). The rescue group, the Neverland people & Henry (who is actually Pan) have just returned safely to Storybrooke. This story moves away from canon the next day. Regina goes to Henry's room to wake him but instead finds a mysterious note for her & Emma. (Hook & Neal have minor roles but it's SwanQueen all the way!)Cover by Beegoddess
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: **Thank you for reading my new story. For those of you who followed _Who's jealous of the big bad wolf _there IS a sequel coming soon. I just needed to write something a little more serious first. I hope you forgive that and enjoy the story! Comments, queries and opinions are as always welcome!

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><p>Regina woke up and instantly a smile formed on her lips. Henry was here. With her. He had actually wanted to come and sleep in his old room. She felt almost giddy with joy and pride that he had chosen her home as his safe haven after the horrors of Neverland.<p>

She got up and took off her grey silk pyjamas to wash and dress for the day ahead. A day with Henry. She would forsake everything else that undoubtedly needed to be done today, she wanted to spend time with her son.

When she was ready she walked to his room. She had allowed him a bit of a lie-in but now it was time for him to get up and have some breakfast. He was a growing boy, after all. She shook her head to herself as she pondered what the so-called Charmings might be feeding him, it was sure to be unhealthy and overly sugary. Everything about Snow White was always too sugary.

She knocked on the door before opening it, not waiting for a response. "Henry? Time to wake up and get something to eat. I can make you poached eggs with bacon and wholegrain toast if you want?" As she looked at the bed she gave a sharp intake of breath. It was empty but for a note on the rumpled covers. She picked it up and read:

_Let's play a game! _

_If you want to see your darling son again, you and Emma Swan will come into the woods at the outskirts of town. If you two come alone and if you manage to find me and Henry I will give you further instructions. _

_Do come and play, I would hate for anything to happen to your precious boy!_

_Pan's shadow_

Her face fell. Pan's shadow? But that thing was still trapped in the sails of the Jolly Roger, surely? She stood staring at the note for a couple of minutes, trying to control her dread and weighing her options.

She finally admitted that she saw no way out of it, she would have to contact Emma and get her opinion. The woman was a meddling menace, an idiot and worst of all a _Charming_ but she loved Henry and they had worked quite well together a few times in Neverland. She picked up her phone and rang the blonde.

A drowsy voice answered. "Morning Regina. What's up? It's a little early for Henry to want to be picked up, isn't it?"

Regina's voice showed an uncharacteristic hesitance as she spoke. "Yes. Yes, it would be, however… Well, I'm sorry to wake you and to ask you to come over here but there is something I need to show you. Just you, don't bring your parents."

The drowsy voice on the other end of the line had been laced with confusion and a hint of suspicion now. "Ok. Um, yeah. Just give me fifteen minutes to get ready and I'll be over."

Regina released the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Good, thank you."

True to her word Emma rang the doorbell at 108 Mifflin Street fifteen minutes later. Well, actually it was seventeen minutes later Regina mused crossly as she glanced at her watch while walking briskly to the door. She opened it and bid Emma to come in and then walked towards the kitchen as she asked "can I offer you something to eat?" Despite the mundane question Emma could see from the brunette's body that she was tense and the rich voice, normally so controlled, sounded strained.

Emma felt her stomach grumble but she also felt uncomfortable being alone with Regina. She constantly felt on guard around the ruthless brunette. And if she was honest, deep down Emma knew that something must be wrong. She assumed that Henry was still asleep though and it made her feel better that she could pick him up straight after she looked at whatever it was that the Mayor wanted to show her.

"Um, no thanks. Can we just get to the point of this please, Regina?"

"I hardly think that is wise. I need to show you something but I have learnt enough about you to know that you work better when you are not hungry. At least have a croissant while I go fetch what I want to show you. There's coffee in the coffee maker, unless you want tea?"

"Regina. Coffee will be fine, I promise to eat and drink. Just go get whatever you want to show me and then we can go up and see if we can get the kid to wake up."

Regina hesitated for a second, her face showing anxiety through the controlled features. But she decided to wait until she had the note. She had left it on Henry's bed simply because she felt that if she couldn't see the note constantly it might not be real. It was silly and she scolded herself for it as she went to fetch the piece of paper.

Emma chewed on the delicious croissant and wondered if Regina had made it herself. She grimaced at the thought of anyone being as overambitious as to actually _make_ croissants as she picked up a mug placed on the counter and poured some coffee into it. She usually wanted milk in it but she didn't want to start rooting through Regina's fridge. The coffee tasted expensive but nice, its heat waking Emma up even before the caffeine had time to kick in.

Regina came down the stairs with a furrowed brow, she was holding a piece of paper and handed it to Emma. The Sheriff took another swig of coffee and put the mug down on the counter to free up a hand to receive the note. She started to read it.

As she read the note Regina stared intently at her face, somehow hoping that the blonde would uncover some secret meaning in the words that she herself had missed. But the shocked and wretched look on Emma's face showed that Regina wouldn't be that lucky.

"What?! Is this a joke?" Emma asked with her voice breaking slightly.

"I am afraid not. Henry wasn't in his bed this morning, all that was there when I came in was that note. I did check the window and it was unlocked."

Emma threw down the half-finished croissant on the counter next to her as she shouted "Jesus Regina! You were meant to be looking after him!"

"I WAS! This house has the most secure burglar alarm in Storybrooke and I sleep quite lightly. If there had been any noise you can be sure that I would have been in there and protected him. But obviously the alarm didn't go off and I didn't hear a thing!"

Regina's voice had become as loud as Emma's but she got a grip on herself now and continued more quietly. "Anyway, I thought Pan was safely locked up in Gold's shop and that Pan's shadow was secured in the sail. There were no obvious enemies, if there had been I would have used magic to secure his room and stayed there with him. "

Emma took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She felt like her heart was about to explode. They had just got him back! How could she survive it if he was lost to them now? She looked up at Regina with her eyes wet with unshed tears of frustration and fear and saw the same look in the brown eyes staring back.

A myriad of questions were swimming in Emma's mind and she grabbed on to the one that popped up first. "I don't get it…. Pan's shadow can write? And what does he want with Henry? It's not like he can deliver him to Pan? Pan's locked up!"

"I've been thinking about this while I waited for you to come over. The only thing I can think is that Pan's shadow broke loose, took Henry as hostage and now wants to exchange him for Pan. I don't know much enough about Pan's shadow to know how it can write. Or how much independent thought it is capable of. I hate to say it but maybe we need to bring that reeking pirate boyfriend of yours along as an expert on this creature."

Emma stared at her wide-eyed in horror. "Hook? No! We can't bring anyone with us Regina. The note says clearly that it has to be only you and me. This time we do what he wants and play the game by his rules. Do you remember what happened when you refused to let me play his map-game in Neverland? You rushed in with your damn magic and ruined it all. This time we do what he says. I can't lose Henry now. WE can't lose Henry now."

Regina looked at Emma as she considered what the blonde had said. Then willing herself not to argue or to make it sound like it was her idea, she just nodded her agreement.


	2. Chapter 2

It dawned on Emma just how quickly they had made the decision to do this, but she honestly couldn't see any other way out. They had to go into that forest and find Henry and this time she was going to follow the rules and beat Pan at his own damn game.

Regina had left to fetch some old maps of the Storybrooke woods from her office at the Town Hall. While the Mayor was gone Emma had drunk some more coffee and had another croissant while calling her parents to tell them that she had to leave for an investigation and that it might take a couple of days. She also told them that Henry was staying with Regina and that she thought they deserved to be left in peace to do some mother and son bonding.

She hated lying to her parents but she knew that if she told them the truth they would never accept not being able to help. She shuddered to think what would happen if she and Regina finally found Pan's shadow and Henry and just as they were about to talk her parents came crashing in with bow and sword at the ready. No, her parents were lovely and they were true heroes. But this had to be done without them.

Emma was trying not to think about the fact that she also didn't want them there to keep her from allowing Regina to use dirty fighting if needed. Emma agreed with her mother on that they had to stay on the right side of what was good and moral, but she also knew that there was nothing she wouldn't do for Henry and she trusted herself to keep the balance and to act as a moral compass for Regina.

Emma had found Regina a lot easier to handle when her parents weren't there anyway. Even though a sort of fragile peace had been brokered between what used to be Snow White and The Evil Queen, there was still always a tension in the air and that tension seemed to mean that Regina was constantly trying to prove herself and to seem powerful and imposing in front of her former enemies. There was a lot less bravado and bite about Regina when it was just her and Emma now and Emma was very thankful for that.

At that moment the door opened and Regina hurried in with two large rolled up maps in her arms. She let them drop on the kitchen table with surprising grace and looked at Emma. "Well, did you call them?"

Emma winced slightly with guilt. "Yeah. I told them I was tracking a guy who took off after a fight with his wife and was seen heading towards the woods. I said that they needed to stay here and rest after Neverland and to be around in case Henry wanted to leave your house."

Regina raised her eyebrows slightly. "And they _bought_ that?"

Emma shrugged and put her hands in her back pockets. "I guess I sounded convincing and they are very… trusting."

Regina raised her eyebrows as far as she could now. "Trusting. Yes, I suppose you could call it that."

Emma glared at her and simply said "_Regina._"

Regina held out her hands to admit defeat. "Fine, fine. We'll go with trusting."

The brunette proceeded to roll out the nearest map on the table. She surveyed it for a moment and said "yes, these should do fine. We'll bring them just in case. I want to be better prepared for a hunt this time than we were in Neverland. Which reminds me, you might want to borrow a sweater to wear. Just that tank top and your leather jacket won't be enough after nightfall."

Emma felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of something as intimate as wearing Regina's clothes. Sure, Henry had let her borrow Regina's shirt once but that was before they knew each other. Borrowing the brunette's clothes now felt… strange. But she didn't want to go back to her parents to fetch clothes nor did she want to freeze in the forest.

She steeled herself and tried to make sure her discomfort couldn't be heard in her voice. "Thanks, that sounds like a good idea."

Regina didn't look up from the map as she replied. "Alright. Well, to hurry things up I suggest you go up to my bedroom and look in my closet. It's sorted by colour but I think choosing something warm but not too thick so it fits under your jacket has to be your main priority. Choose something warm for me as well. I'll prepare some food and water and magic up a rucksack for you to carry it in."

Emma made an annoyed noise. "What? Why am I carrying the rucksack? And why can't you come up with me and choose your own damn sweater?!"

Regina spoke with a voice that demonstrated her rapidly dwindling amount of patience. "You are carrying the rucksack because you are physically stronger than I. I already told you that I was looking at the map and preparing sustenance so you should go up to my closet alone to save time. Trust me, I don't like you having the chance to snoop in my bedroom and to mess up my closet more than you do. Come on, hurry up! We are wasting time!"

Without a biting retort at hand Emma decided to just get it over with and headed upstairs. She took the stairs two steps at a time and then rushed into the older woman's bedroom. She noted that the room was perfectly clean and that it smelled faintly of cinnamon but she made a concerted effort to not look at Regina's bed, somehow that felt like an intrusion and for some odd reason just the thought of the brunette's bed made the little hairs on her arms stand on end.

She opened the large wardrobe and saw that it was coordinated by type of clothing and then colours within the individual groups. She looked at the sweater section and quickly picked out a grey cable-knitted one that looked the right size for herself.

But what to choose for Regina? That woman was always perfectly dressed and for some reason it felt very important to Emma that she choose something that the brunette would approve of. She thought about what Regina was wearing. A black turtleneck and pinstriped black suit-trousers. So, maybe that purple sweater? Yeah, it would have to do. She didn't have time to play Regina's stylist right now!

She hurried down to the kitchen where Regina was crouching on the floor while packing a large thermos and a big water bottle into a hiking rucksack. From where Emma stood it looked like the rucksack already contained some plastic bags filled with something and a Tupperware box. As Emma watched Regina fastened the two maps on either side of the rucksack into the compartment where water bottles and such would normally be placed.

Then she looked up at Emma. "Well. Did you get us something to wear?"

"Yeah, here." Emma threw Regina the purple sweater and watched as the brunette just nodded and started putting the sweater on. A little voice in Emma's head said that there surely would have been a sarcastic comment if Emma hadn't chosen an acceptable garment so this counted as a win.

Regina got up and headed for the hallway where she retrieved a pair of almost sensible but still slightly heeled black boots and started to put them on. Emma quickly took off her red leatherjacket and put on the grey sweater before replacing the jacket and bending down to pick up the rucksack.

While Regina put on her long black coat Emma weighed the rucksack in her hand. "This is a bit heavy. But then I guess it's all the liquids. Shouldn't we pack anything else? First aid kit, stuff like that?"

Regina shook her head impatiently. "There are two flashlights in the bag. Other than them, the maps, our cell phones and some refreshments we shouldn't need much. I'm hoping to be back before nightfall and if we are not, I can always magic up a few basic supplies. We have to leave now, that forsaken shadow could be hurting Henry. I'll drive us to the edge of the woods and we'll walk from there."

Emma nodded, put the rucksack on and followed Regina out towards the Mayor's black Mercedes, only stopping to pick up her gun, some extra ammo and her phone from her own car. Regina was right, they would be better prepared this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma got in the car while putting the spare ammo in the rucksack. Regina looked at Emma while she tucked the gun in at the back of her trousers and sat back to buckle up.

Regina looked at Emma's back and asked "doesn't sticking that in there chafe after a while?"

Emma giggled to herself as the unintended innuendo but tried to hide it, bearing the innocence of Storybrooke's fairy tale characters in mind. She just said "I've had worse" in a low voice.

She was surprised at the low chuckle coming from Regina. "Oh I'm sure you have, _Miss Swan_."

Emma looked at her with wonder and Regina caught the look and said "Oh please. Don't mistake me for your innocent parents or any of the other naïve idiots from our land. I can't count the amount of times I have made a sexually-natured slight against your mother for living in a cottage with seven bachelors without her understanding my implication."

Then Regina put the car in gear and started to drive. Emma looked at her for as long as she could without it seeming odd. The look started as an evaluating look due to the recent conversation but it soon changed to appreciation. Emma had not actually watched the older woman in charge of a vehicle before. Regina drove confidently but safely. She seemed to control the vehicle with ease and the Mercedes bent to every wish. There was something strangely sexy about how Regina drove, it was like she made the car and the road submit to her wishes by pure skill and confidence.

Emma scrunched her eyes closed and tried to clear the absurd train of thought. For god's sake, it was just the bitchy borderline-sociopath that's she shared a son with driving a damn car. Why was that so mesmerizing? The Mercedes wasn't in Regina's power any more than any car would be with any driver. It wasn't like the car was a sentient being, like a horse or something. But then Mary Margaret had told Emma about how good Regina had been with horses and what an accomplished rider the woman had been.

Now Emma found herself imagining a younger Regina, a less scarred by life Regina, mounting a horse. Her thighs strong from all that riding and her hands with those long slender fingers gripping hard on the reins. Emma opened her eyes and gasped. What the hell were these thoughts about? Emma tried to stop the memory of that night in Neverland, those brown eyes looking almost black in the dark, staring deep into her own. Shit shit shit. Not that. That memory was supposed to stay buried.

Regina's controlled voice had a slight hint of concern as it interrupted Emma's unwanted thoughts. "Are you alright, Emma?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just a… bad headache. Probably the stress from Neverland and worrying about Henry."

The concern dropped out of Regina's voice and it went back to its normal tone. "Yes, I supposed that would only be natural. Let me know if it becomes an issue, I'd rather take away the pain than have you stumbling around uselessly when we find Pan's shadow."

Emma cleared her throat and tried to sound unfazed. "Yeah. Yeah, I will. Thanks."

They arrived by the edge of the woods and Regina parked the car, Emma tried not to watch as the brunette manoeuvred the car with precision and parked it perfectly in the first attempt. Then she unbuckled herself, got out of the car and started walking towards the woods without a word to the blonde in the passenger seat. Emma quickly scrambled to get her belt off and pick up the rucksack placed by her feet while mumbling "rude".

As they walked unto the small path taking them further into the woods Emma saw Regina get out a pair of black leather gloves from her coat pockets and put them on. Emma's first thought was that it wasn't _that_ cold but that was shortly replaced with a worry of just how cold it was going to be as the day went on. She walked a little faster to get her warmth up early and passed Regina to now take the lead.

Regina didn't respond well to Emma taking the lead. "Hang on. Do you even know where you are going?"

Emma looked over her shoulder and simply said "no, but neither do you."

"Well no, but I thought that considering that it was my mind and my magic that created these woods during the curse it might be best if I was the leader this time, _Saviour_" Regina replied in a terse tone.

Emma stopped so Regina could walk next to her. "Fine, you lead then. How did you create Storybrooke anyway?"

"It's… complicated. You wouldn't understand."

Emma adjusted the rucksack on her back and looked at Regina again. "Try me, I'm getting pretty good at this brain-crunching magic mumbo jumbo that goes on with you people"

Regina sighed deeply and asked "is there any chance I can get you to change the subject?"

"Nope."

"Fine. The truth is… that I can't exactly say. I wanted a place where everyone would feel trapped and where I could control everything. I guess my subconscious and the magic of the curse did the rest. The magic of the curse scoured this part of the land at the year of the curse and mimicked small towns around it. My subconscious and to some part my conscious mind filled out the details, giving everyone a place where I felt they belonged and taking special considerations. Like giving Gold power and money, as per our deal. And of course making sure that Snow would be lonely and unhappy."

Emma's voice had bite as she replied. "Great."

"You wanted the truth and there it is. Of course things slightly changed in the years after that. People made their own changes to the town. Like Belle opening the library and Granny creating that horrible décor she insists on. Trust me, that had nothing to do with me."

Emma laughed. "Yeah, she does like her floral patterns, doesn't she?"

Regina hummed a discontented agreement but Emma could see that the faintest start of a smile played at the brunette's lips.

"So, are we just going to walk until we get some kind of further instruction?" Emma asked.

"I suppose so yes. I could try a locator spell if we just had something that belonged to Pan's shadow but obviously that things doesn't really carry a lot of stuff around. I wish I would have thought to bring something of Henry's and we could have used that. "

Emma sighed before saying. "mhmm, true. Is there any other way of tracking someone that you know of? I mean the shadow floats so it wouldn't leave footprints but if it wasn't carrying Henry... I mean if he was walking, there would be tracks, right?"

Regina considered this for a second before replying. "Yes, I suppose there would. But as the shadow seems to travel by 'floating', as you call, it I assume it would carry him. That would be faster and as you pointed out, wouldn't leave tracks. It is what I would do. Anyway, tracking people is your skill, not mine."

Emma chortled drily. "Yeah, tracking them through their phone records and where they use their credit card. Not traipsing through leaves and dirt. Maybe we should have brought Ruby."

Regina snorted derisively. "You are the one who insisted on following the rules this time. And anyway, if we were bringing a bloodhound I would prefer Pongo. Although I don't think that mutt has forgiven me since it thought it saw me killing Archie."

"To be honest Ruby hasn't fully forgiven most of your transgressions either, but she is easier to reason with." Emma stopped herself from adding _and easier on the eyes too _just in time. Regina might be more experienced and open than many of the others but Emma still didn't know how accepting the Mayor would be if Emma told her she was secretly bisexual. Well as much _secretly_ as that no one in Storybrooke had ever asked her and she hadn't volunteered the information.

Emma heard Regina exclaim "look" before she noticed it. A small distance in front of them was Henry's scarf! It was just floating there, eerily and serenely, between two trees. They both ran for it and as soon as they got close the scarf quickly flew in between the trees and down a much narrower path to the left. "I guess we are going that way" Emma mumbled and followed the scarf with Regina right behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note:** Thank you for reading and for commenting/reviewing! As always comments/reviews are fanfic fuel! I would also like to apologize for any errors in the text. I would hereby like to blame it on the fact that I don't have a Beta reader and that English is my second language. (Always good to have something to actually blame but yourself, right?)

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><p>The narrow path seemed to go on forever but they kept following the scarf which moved fast enough for them to not be able to touch it but slow enough for them to follow. Regina had been checking her watch and it had been over half an hour since they started to chase the scarf. It was worrying her, she knew that the woods were large but surely more than half an hour in any direction should mean that the terrain started to look a little different.<p>

However, when Regina took her eyes off the scarf and looked around she couldn't help but notice how similar the trees and bushes they passed looked. She wished she had kept track of their direction, maybe she should have brought a compass. The fast pace with which they walked was also taking its toll.

Regina could hear Emma clomping away behind her now and she could hear that the blonde's breathing had become more laboured. If this continued much longer she would have to offer to take the rucksack or Emma would really start to struggle. She really hoped they weren't completely lost. To keep her mind off her worries she decided to try and be proactive.

"Emma?"

A large huff of breath and then a pained "yeah?"

"When we were in Neverland, you and your two feeble suitors captured Pan's shadow, didn't you?"

Trying to hide her panting Emma answered "me, _Neal_ and _Hook_ did, yeah. We used that candle in the coconut that we found. The shadow was drawn in by the light and then sealed inside it. Sadly I didn't bring any magical coconuts. I…"

Regina half-turned and held up a hand towards the blonde as she interrupted her with an icy tone in her voice. "Emma. I'm going to stop you there before you make a crass joke about only bringing your own pair of magical coconuts."

Emma looked shocked at Regina. "Oh for god's sake, Regina. I wasn't going to do that! I'm not really in the mood to make jokes at all, we've been rushing after that scarf for ages and all the liquids, food and those damn huge flashlights in this rucksack isn't making my life any easier. As soon as that thing stops so we can get a break, you are carrying this monster!"

"Fine. You're right. This is taking too long and to be honest I am starting to wonder if the scarf isn't leading us in a circle. These trees look awfully familiar" Regina said distantly as she swiftly looked around again.

Emma shrugged as she stole a quick look at the landscape. "These trees just look like regular trees to me. Anyway, if we are going in circles, why would the shadow jerk us around like this?"

Regina furrowed her brow. "I don't know. To tire us out so that we are easier targets maybe? But it means to negotiate with us, not kill us, so I don't see why weakening us would be beneficial to it or to Pan himself."

Emma wiped the first drops of sweat from her hairline. "Well no matter why he is doing it, it seems to be working. I'm starting to really need a rest."

When hearing Emma's words Regina realised just how tired she was of this sense of powerlessness. She grunted "enough of this" and flicked her wrist in the direction of the scarf. It froze in mid-air in front of them.

Emma stopped and panted horrified "what did you do?!"

"I've taken control of it. Following it was getting us nowhere. Now that I have it I can use it with a locator spell and we can just get our son back. Again."

As Regina reached her hand out to grab the floating scarf she was shocked to see that a hand was already holding on to it. The hand of the shadow. It had folded and attached itself to the back of Henry's scarf and that was what had made the scarf float, but it was now fully formed once more and grabbing the scarf to pull it away.

It managed to break Regina's magical hold on the scarf and flew off with it. Regina threw fireball after fireball after it while Emma tried shooting at it with her gun but it simply dodged the deadly orbs and the shower of bullets.

Emma shouted "my bullets are doing nothing, you have to hit it!"

Through gritted teeth Regina yelled back "I'm trying! This damn thing is too fast!" After that she changed technique and created a huge net above the shadow. The net fell from the sky and was large enough to capture the shadow despite its fast flight. The shadow fought for freedom in the net and then managed to make itself small enough to escape through one of the holes in the net.

Regina screamed in frustration and threw some half-hearted fireballs after the fleeing shade but it was already leaving them far behind with Henry's scarf in its hand. As they watched it leave Emma put her hands on her hips and stared first at the ground and then at Regina.

She was trying hard to keep her voice from screaming the older woman's head off as she asked "what the hell was that about? Don't you think you should have asked me before doing something like that?! The shadow was probably leading us straight to Henry! Or at least to a place where we could find out what the hell it is that Pan wants."

"Oh get off your high horse, Emma. You were the one who was whining about being tired and needing to stop chasing that thing indefinitely."

Emma's jaw dropped at the thought that the brunette was blaming her for this. "TO GET YOU TO CARRY THE RUCKSACK FOR A WHILE! Not to get you to fly off the handle and do something stupid again! This is just like Neverland!"

"Yes it is! It's exactly the same problem. You want results but you are afraid to do what has to be done to get them. Sometimes when you act to solve a problem it doesn't work, but it is still better than not acting and having no chance in hell to get results! You are the most ungrateful…" Regina stopped speaking and wobbled perilously where she stood.

All of Emma's anger disappeared at the shock of how pale and unsteady Regina looked now. She left the rucksack on the ground and hurried over to grab Regina's arm to steady the brunette. "Jesus, Regina. Are you ok?"

Regina tried to put on a brave face and seem normal. "Yes, I'm fine. It's just that magic is different here than it is in realms where magic naturally exists. Using too much of it here in Storybrooke makes me very tired. I'll be fine in a while. Let's just sit down and have something to drink."

They walked a few steps back to a small patch of grass that Emma had seen and settled down. Regina sat down on an old fallen tree and Emma crouched on the grass while looking through the rucksack. She felt her stomach rumble and realised it must be lunch soon.

She took out the little plastic bags she had seen at the bottom of the pack. Most of them seemed to contain different kinds of nuts and a few had what looked like raisins in them. Emma left them where they were and got the bottle of water and handed it to Regina who opened it and took a delicate sip. Emma moved the thermos and picked up the Tupperware box.

Regina looked at what Emma was holding as she had another dainty sip. "Don't you think it's a little early for lunch?"

"Quite frankly, no. I've been chasing a shadow-driven scarf through rough terrain with a small elephant on my back. And all that with only one and a half croissant and some black coffee in my stomach. I need food."

Regina looked too tired to argue. "Fine, just don't whine to me when you get hungry again in two hours. There are two sets of plastic cutlery in the bottom of the bag. And some napkins."

"Plastic cutlery and napkins? Are we having a royal picnic or something?"

"Well excuse me if I don't want to eat lasagne with my fingers and wipe my fingers on leaves. Not everyone is as apt at roughing it as you are, _dear_."

Emma just huffed at her and ruffled through the rucksack for the cutlery and napkins. When she found them she walked over to Regina and sat down next to her on the tree log so that they could both get into the Tupperware box to cut pieces of lasagne. It had clearly come from the fridge as it was stone-cold, but it was still absolutely delicious to Emma who was hungry as hell.

They did struggle to both try and use the cutlery in the small box and several times they would almost drop the box or their hands would bump into each other's as they cut the lasagne. After having had some of it Regina gave an annoyed sigh and said "this is ridiculous. You have it, I'm not that hungry anyway."

Emma put her fork down. She felt guilty for shouting at the brunette earlier, she should have known that Regina would do something like that and now that the older woman looked so exhausted Emma wished she would have gone easier on her. She tried to convey her emotions with her voice and kindly said "Regina, it's a huge box. I'll save the rest of it for later. It's really nice by the way."

Regina waived her hand dismissively. "Well, it shouldn't be eaten like this. It should be warm and served with vegetables and either good wine or my cider."

Emma gave her a small smile and spoke in the same kind voice. "You could just take the compliment and be happy, you know."

Regina just waived her hand towards the rucksack and brought the thermos out to then proceed to pour what was now lukewarm coffee into the thermos-lid.

Emma quickly swallowed her last mouthful of lasagne. "Whoa, should you really be using more magic? I could just have gotten that for you!"

"You're eating. Enjoy your food because you'll need the energy. I'm afraid that I'm too exhausted to carry the rucksack right now so you will be struggling with it for a bit longer as we start looking for the shadow again."

Emma thought about complaining about carrying the rucksack again but as she saw Regina's powder-white pallor she decided against it and just nodded before helping herself to some water. She wished that she could look after Regina but she wasn't sure how to go about it and anyway, she was very sure that Regina wouldn't let her do anything of the sort.


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors note:** The romance is sort of slow burn right now but trust me, we are getting there. Thank you for reading!

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><p>After they had finished their lunch they continued on. They veered off the track where the scarf had been leading them in a circle and ended up on a bigger pathway again. They followed it for quite a while, Regina taking the lead. Emma watched her and noticed that despite the shorter woman's proud posture she did still seem drained of energy.<p>

As Emma watched her traveling companion she tried very hard to keep her eye-line from lowering down to appreciatively gaze at the brunette's behind but she found herself failing quite a few times. She had noticed Regina's exquisite assets before of course but then always in a platonic way. At least that was what she had thought until that night in Neverland.

Around three in the afternoon Regina stopped them by a little waterfall and got the maps out to try to ascertain where they were. She nodded convincingly as if to say that she now knew where they were but Emma wasn't sure if that wasn't just an act. She didn't press the Mayor on it though as she was trying to keep the peace. If there was one thing she was sure about it was that Regina wanted to find Henry as much as she did.

As the afternoon wore on and it started to grow dark they stopped and ate the rest of the lasagne and some nuts and raisins for dessert. The coffee in the thermos had gone cold by now but Emma drank it anyway for the caffeine and to leave the water for Regina. The brunette ate as delicately as usual and showed no sign of an increased appetite despite all the walking. Emma was once again amazed at the Mayor's willpower and discipline over her own body.

Emma rubbed her hands together to stop them from getting cold and stole another glance at Regina. The food had brought back a little colour to the brunette's face and Emma was glad to see it. Regina was eating some hazelnuts, popping one into her mouth at a time and chewing daintily, and had her eyes fixed on Emma's torso.

Emma looked down at her jacket to see if she had gotten lasagne or coffee on it. "Have I spilled something? What are you looking at?"

The fatigue and the strange intimacy imposed by being out here in the darkening woods alone with Emma made Regina decide to answer honestly. "I started looking at your hands. You keep rubbing them, I should have made you borrow some gloves."

"Oh I'll be fine as soon as we start walking and I can build some heat up. What did you mean you _started_ looking at my hands?"

Regina sighed as if she was slightly bored by the conversation. "Don't let this get to your head but I was marvelling at how you manage to get so much strength into such a petite frame. You have a very nice muscle tone. I can't see it now of course but I have seen plenty of it before as you insist on wearing those tight tank tops."

Emma felt confused at the almost flirty comment said in such a monotone and dispassionate voice. The way Regina said it the words sounded like she had just pointed out that it was a Monday. She didn't know how to respond and so she sat quietly for a moment until she mumbled "thanks, I think."

Regina started to get up from the boulder she had been sitting on and wiped down her trousers with her hands. "You're welcome. We should get going. I'll carry the rucksack for a while now." She replaced all the food items in the bag, including the trash, and gently put the rucksack on.

As she walked on without waiting, Emma felt something on her hands. When she looked down she saw purple smoke evaporating to reveal a pair of black leather gloves. They looked exactly like Regina's own but as Emma turned her hands over to inspect the new gloves she saw that there was a tiny letter E embroidered in white just by her wrist. It was so small that Emma almost missed it in the darkness of twilight. She smiled in amazement and started to hurry after Regina to not lose the impatient brunette.

They walked on and only stopped to get the flashlights out of the rucksack and to occasionally have a sip of water. Emma's feet were beginning to hurt and for the first time in her normally very urban life she wished she had a good pair of hiking boots, or just a vehicle that could manoeuvre these damn woods.

Regina felt exhausted. The worry, the constant walking, the lack of food and the stupid over-use of magic had really taken its toll. But she fought hard to not show her fatigue in front of Emma. She told herself that this was just because she always did that, she always acted strong and refused to show any weakness. Her mother had instilled that in her at an early age. Her mother would look her straight in the eye and say "don't allow yourself to seem feeble, child. People will take advantage of you if you do. Do you want to be like _your father_?" But she started to wonder if there wasn't an underlying wish not to worry the blonde as well.

After a few hours Emma walked faster so she was next to Regina. "I think it's time for me to show off my incredible muscles and take the rucksack for a while." Regina gave a small chortle but stopped to take the pack off. Emma took the opportunity to steal a glance at the former queen, the flashlight didn't give enough light for a proper look but Emma still noticed the exhaustion on Regina's face.

"I'm sorry" Regina said quietly and completely out of the blue.

A baffled Emma looked at her for a moment. "What for?"

"For not finding Pan's shadow and Henry yet. I think I know where we are on the map and we seem to have scoured most of the woods now. At least we had when it was still light enough to read the map. But we still haven't found them. Maybe they aren't even here and this was all just a sick game while Pan was busy killing everyone in Storybrooke, including Henry."

Little lines formed on Emma's forehead as she let her face show her concern. "_Regina_. Don't say that. You're just tired and worried. I am too. I don't think Pan's shadow would send us into the woods unless it did actually want to meet us here. We saw it carrying the scarf, remember. I think it's hiding from us to toy with us, but I feel sure that it will appear at some point."

Regina's voice sounded unconvinced. "You feel sure, huh? That is an unusual amount of unfounded hope and confidence for you, Savour."

If Emma was honest with herself she didn't feel half of the assurance she had just tried to convey. In fact she had begun to think along the same lines as Regina had but she desperately wanted to make Regina feel better and if she was honest she was hoping it would work on herself too.

Emma sighed and decided to be honest. "Yeah, I suppose it is. I suppose I'm not quite my mother's daughter. Actually, I did briefly wonder if the shadow was trying to get us out of the way but then I realised that it wouldn't have insisted on it being just us two of that was the case. If it was going to get the two most dangerous people out of the way it would have chosen you and Gold."

Regina gave Emma a searching look. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, dear. You are the saviour after all. And you trapped the shadow last time, you're a good fighter, you have magic now and most importantly you will stop at nothing to protect Henry. My father always used to tell me that the most dangerous animal in the world was a female whose offspring were threatened."

Despite her little speech Regina seemed calmer at the thought that if she had really been lured away from the action it would have been Rumpelstiltskin by her side and not Emma Swan. Sadly, her feeling of calm evaporated when all of a sudden the path in front of them ended and nothing but trees stood in front of them. Regina gave a little scream of anger and felled the nearest tree with a wave of her hand.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma looked down on the ground and took a few calming breaths to keep herself from losing her temper as well. When she had taken ten slow breaths she shone the flashlight around them. To their left there was a small clearing.

"Regina. We are both tired and we are clearly getting nowhere in this dark. There isn't even any real moonlight tonight! I know it's still quite early but let's get some rest and continue the search the very second there is any sunlight tomorrow."

Regina's heavy breathing showed her still fuming rage but her hands hung limply by her sides and even her rigid posture had turned into a slouch. "Alright. But as I will be using the last of my energy on making us some blankets you will have to sleep with one eye open tonight. If we are ambushed I might not be of much use to you."

Emma could see that the confession was difficult for the brunette and decided not to make a big deal about it. "Sure, and thanks for getting us some blankets… or maybe sleeping bags and mats to lay on would be better?"

Regina just muttered "yes, of course" and walked into the clearing. When Emma joined her the brunette handed her the flashlight and then took a deep breath, closed her eyes for focus and waived her hand. On the ground in front of them were two dark grey sleeping bags and matching mats.

Emma thought about making a fire but decided it wasn't cold enough to go through the hassle of finding suitable kindling and then trying not to start a forest fire. If she woke up freezing in three hours she would figure something out then. At least she knew how to use magic to create a flame if needed.

Regina laid out her sleeping bag on the mat. She wanted to create something like the make-shift wooden bed she had in Neverland but she didn't have the energy right now. She really wished she was in a realm with magic right now, there she could have made herself half a palace before she got this tired. She was starting to feel cold too. She knew what that meant, she had overdone it and her body was punishing her for it now. She considered a campfire but that would mean using magic or asking Emma to help her and she wasn't prepared to be that vulnerable.

Emma put the rucksack next to her sleeping bag and put her gun on top of it. She wanted to be able to reach out her hand and grab it easily if they were attacked. Regina had gotten into her sleeping bag now and her eyes were closed. Emma tried not to look at her, that would just remind her even more of the memory she was trying to bury.

But as the blonde laid down in her own sleeping bag and looked up at the stars she couldn't stop herself from thinking about the retched memory, the situation here was far too similar. And so she let herself think about it, to try and rid herself of the memory constantly trying to come to the front of her mind. It went without saying that a lot of the time in Neverland Emma had felt a certain amount of animosity against Regina and trying to keep the peace between the imperious brunette, hook and her parents had been frustrating.

But as night fell and Emma became more pensive and maudlin, she couldn't shake the feeling that Regina was the one person in the camp that she could really relate too. They were both there to save their son, they shared a more cynical and realistic worldview than her parents and a more complex and layered worldview than Hook. They were both damaged, they both felt betrayed by their parents and sort of lost in the world, but both of them still fought tooth and nail to seem strong to anyone watching.

But there was something else to it as well. As Emma laid sleepless covered in her blankets, she realized that Regina didn't want anything from her. Emma felt the pressure of suddenly having to be the saviour, a mother, a daughter, a well-known leader in a small-town, the sheriff and a pursued woman for Hook and later Neal.

In that moment she looked at Regina, who was sleeping in a bedframe made of wood with her blue jacket as a pillow, and thought _she doesn't expect anything from me_. Sure, she wants me to learn about magic but she doesn't have a pre-made role for me to fill. She doesn't expect me to be her apprentice or anything like that. She just saw what I had and wanted to help me use it. I can be whatever the hell I want around her, her response will always be the same. Sarcastic and bitchy but somehow… with a core of respect. She doesn't judge me.

While Emma thought this she was watching Regina. The older woman was so perfectly still, her arms laying protectively over her chest and her breathing barely noticeable. For the first time Emma noticed how vulnerable Regina looked. Did she always look like that when she slept or was it just now, because her arch nemesis laid snuggled up with her husband in a canopy so very close by?

Emma's gaze traced Regina's features in the moonlight and for the first time she was struck by how truly beautiful Regina Mills was. Then she scolded herself for the thought, of course Regina was beautiful, so many deadly things are. But then she looked back again and saw Regina's tongue dart out to wet her lips. Emma stared mesmerized even after the tongue had retreated back into the brunette's mouth. Was Regina sleeping? Surely people didn't wet their lips in their sleep?

She couldn't say how long she had been laying like that, just watching Regina, trying to see if the brunette was asleep and enjoying the beauty in repose. But then Regina's eyes opened. Emma started slightly but she didn't have time to fake sleep before Regina turned towards her. Their eyes met. They looked at each other for much longer than was natural for two people who were barely friends and Emma felt like she was trying to read the brunette through her deep brown eyes.

She realised she was barely breathing but it didn't seem to matter much. She stared into those chocolate-brown eyes like she was hypnotized and Regina stared right back. The night was utterly silent. Somehow Emma felt like they were doing something forbidden, something so much more intimate than just looking at each other. She felt almost spellbound but she was sure there was no actual magic at work here. Regina looked as confused by this as her, or was she just projecting her own feelings onto Regina's face?

She hoped that Regina felt the same and worried slightly about the nervous feeling in her stomach. This was getting a little too intimate and far too confusing. And yet, she couldn't stop looking into those eyes. She felt her body react in ways she couldn't explain. The Neverland nights were warm but still she had goosebumps and her nipples had hardened, but she also felt some sort of dread in the pit of her stomach which counteracted the thought that she might be getting aroused. She felt painfully vulnerable and yet strangely ready to open up to the older woman opposite her.

Just then Hook turned over in his sleep and his hook hit a nearby rock. The noise didn't seem to wake the pirate but it did make both Emma and Regina startle and look towards the source of the sound. Breaking the eye contact and the strange connection between them had been almost painful but neither of them could face each other again. They both felt too embarrassed and ashamed. Emma had gotten up and moved her bedding a little further away so she couldn't see Regina as clearly and Regina had closed her eyes so hard it almost stung. They never spoke of it and they both hoped against all odds that the other one had just been sleeping with their eyes open.

But now, in the Storybrooke woods they were alone with each other and that memory kept haunting them both. They both pretended to sleep for long enough that they actually fell asleep. Until Regina woke a few hours later by the feeling of blood-freezing cold permeating her body.


	7. Chapter 7

Regina shivered and knew that this wasn't just cold from the chilly night around her. This was the cost of her overusing her magic on trying to get Pan's shadow and on creating things for her and Emma. Her fingers and toes felt rigid with the cold, as if her blood had shards of ice in it that gathered in her extremities. She considered using her last magic to poof herself home. She could draw herself a hot bath and drink some heated cider.

But that was just ridiculous. She knew it wouldn't work, this cold wasn't normal cold and therefore it couldn't be cured that easily. Regina had felt this before when she had used too much magic here but she always made sure that no one knew about this weakness. She only let her teeth chatter and surveyed her goosebumps when she was alone in her room.

No, the only thing that could cure this was sleep. Just as the cells regenerated and cured smaller ailments during sleep they also seemed to recharge the magic in Regina's body. But how was she meant to sleep here in this inhospitable forest? All around here was strange noises and unfamiliar smells. And then there was the cold. This damned freezing inside her that invaded her senses and made it impossible to fully focus on anything else. She realised she was shaking slightly in her sleeping bag now.

She looked over to the blonde slumbering next to her. Emma was sleeping on her side with her hand under her head. Regina could see that the hand was still wearing the glove that Regina had created for her. She knew that she should regret those gloves as they were a part of what had generated her current unpleasant situation. But as she watched Emma sleep on it she couldn't regret it at all.

To try and distract herself from the feeling of bone-deep cold she surveyed Emma's face. The pretty features were relaxed in sleep and Emma looked younger. The blonde hadn't had time to put make-up on that morning nor to curl her hair but as Regina looked at her now she realised that Emma was always perfectly beautiful, even without trying. Then she chided herself for the thought. She had promised herself that she would never think like that.

She promised herself that the morning after that strange moment in Neverland. She had decided that if Emma acknowledged the odd, intimate occurrence in the night then so would she. Then maybe there was hope that Emma wanted to discover what that moment was. But Emma had barely looked at Regina the next day, in fact she had been quite cold and distant. So Regina knew. She knew that Emma saw her the way they all did, a cruel and unlovable villain. Or maybe the problem was that she was a woman. One way or another, Regina had been forced to watch Emma flirt with Hook and mourn Neal all while being haunted by those looks in the midnight darkness.

When it was discovered that Neal was alive and when Emma decided to go save him Regina had enough. She left them and was secretly happy when she found Rumpelstiltskin. At least he knew what it was like to be dark, feared and hated. At least she didn't have that feeling around him, that nagging feeling that she should be a better person to impress him, that particular feeling only happened around two people. Henry and the young woman who slept next to Regina right now.

Emma moved in her sleep now and Regina watched her raptly. The blonde mumbled something but Regina couldn't make it out. She had noticed that the blonde talked in her sleep when they were in Neverland, but it was always so very quiet. Like the blonde wanted to keep her secrets even when she slept. Regina wondered if that was due to her growing up in foster homes and institutions, she assumed that those were places were you didn't want to spill all your secrets while you were at your most vulnerable.

Regina was shaking more now and she could hear her teeth chatter ever so slightly even though she clamped her jaws shut as tight as she could. Everything felt painful and she just wanted to sleep it off. All of a sudden Emma opened her eyes and looked directly at Regina. Regina felt her breath catch in her chest and one thought popped into her mind _heritage green._ That was what she would call the colour of Emma's eyes, green with blue and grey muddled in it, creating a new eye colour every time Regina saw those eyes in a new light. Now in the dark it was impossible to see their colour, but Regina knew that if she could… they would be heritage green.

Emma opened her eyes and saw Regina. The first thought in her sleep-addled brain was to look away as to not have a repeat of that night in Neverland. But then she noticed the sound. A strange sound, almost like clicking and then a rustling of the leaves underneath them. As her mind began to wake up she realised that it must be Regina shivering and chattering her teeth. But that couldn't be, it wasn't that cold. In fact the night was a lot milder than Emma ever could have hoped for.

"Regina, are you ok?" Emma asked and they both thought about how odd her voice sounded out there in the wild. Owls and the scurrying of small animals belonged here, not human voices. Regina felt the sound of Emma's voice hit her like a breath of hot air. She realised it felt good, hearing the other woman made her feel less alone, less of a helpless victim to the cold in her body.

She tried to reply without her teeth chattering but she failed. "I… I'm ok. It's just a side effect of using too much magic here. It happens sometimes, it's nothing I can't handle. Go back to sleep."

Emma laid quietly for a second, deciding what to do. Once again she chose to leave Regina to it and not irritate the formidable woman. "Okay, wake me if you need me" she finally said and turned over onto her other side. But she didn't fall back asleep. She laid with her back to Regina but could still hear the noise continuing and she cursed both the pride of the other woman and her own inability to block it out and sleep.

After about five minutes of this, Emma sat up in her sleeping bag. "Regina."

The chattering increased as Regina opened her lips to speak. "Yes?"

Emma's voice conveyed equal measures of concern and annoyance as she spoke. "There must be something I can do to help. If you're like this because you overused your magic, can't I … I don't know…. give you a refill somehow? If you can have some of my magic you might feel better."

Regina kept herself from sighing in frustration at Emma's lack of understanding of magic. "It doesn't work like that. You can't just breathe your magic into me, Emma. It's part of you. Part of your body."

Emma resented Regina's overbearing tone and so her response sounded a lot sharper than she had planned. "So I would have to what? Give you part of my body? Sew my arm onto your chest?"

Regina rolled her eyes in the dark. Sometimes it was quite obvious that the idiot in front of her was her father's daughter. "No, the only thing you could do is something we are sure as hell not doing. This conversation is over. I will fall asleep soon and then the chattering will stop and you can sleep. Just give me chance to relax. "

"Regina!"

"Shhh."

Emma turned over again and realised her hands were clenched into tight fists. God, that woman could be so infuriating.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors note:** I'd like to thank evilregal and her fic Soothing nightmares which (while very different from my story) inspired me to think about how these two would handle disturbed sleep and I can now use those thoughts in the chapter you are about to read. Thank you all for reading and leaving comments. I do reply to all reviews/comments (even the negative ones) so if you have any thoughts or queries feel free to leave me a note. Or find me on tumblr (violetscentedwriter)

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><p>Regina was starting to feel tingling in her extremities now. This was ridiculous. She got up with the idea of moving around. It might not get her temperature up but it was still better than lying there trying not to chatter her teeth and praying for sleep. This cold-reaction was worse than usual and she attributed that to her worrying about Henry and maybe to her current company. Being around Emma was starting to feel stressful simply because Regina didn't trust herself to control her emotions and actions, and that was new to the normally so structured former queen. She didn't know what she and Emma were to each other. Enemies, friends, family or mere acquaintances who tolerated each other. Or something else?<p>

Emma was laying in her sleeping bag with her eyes scrunched up tight, trying to sleep while hearing Regina pace back and forth around her. After a while she snapped, Emma had never reacted well to not being able to sleep. She got up and took her sleeping bag in one hand and her mat in the other. She placed her mat next to where Regina's was and started to unzip both their sleeping bags.

Regina stared at her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making one big sleeping bag and then we are both getting in it. I don't know if it'll make you feel better but I do know that I can at least keep you still so I can get some god damn sleep." With that she zipped the zips of the two sleeping bags together, thus creating one large one and got in it.

Regina looked at her aghast. Emma sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jesus Regina, I'm not suggesting we have sex or anything. I won't even touch you, we'll lay back to back and just share the heat of the sleeping bag. Now get your ass over here or I'll try to force you by magic and considering my magic is hit or miss that could get ugly."

Regina swallowed hard and nodded with a look as if she was in a daze. She walked over and crawled into the sleeping bag with Emma. True to her word, the blonde had laid facing away from Regina and now Regina placed herself carefully so that she was close enough to the blonde to get her body heat but without actually touching her. This meant that she was straining against the fabric of the sleeping bag but it was worth the discomfort, she didn't dare to let her body touch Emma's for so many reasons.

She was still shivering but the chattering of her teeth had subsided a little. She doubted if this could be due to the heat of Emma's body as this was magical cold and not just a regular drop in physical temperature. She realised to her horror that if she felt at all better it was because of the emotional response to Emma being so close or perhaps due to the fact that the blonde was showing concern for her. At least that was how she interpreted the other woman's actions. After all, if Emma merely had wanted to drown out the noise of Regina she could have moved further away or asked Regina to magic up some ear plugs for her.

After a short while she could sense Emma's breathing slow down and assumed the blonde was sleeping. She laid there, attentively sensing what her body was doing. It was starting to feel better she realized. The cold was still there and so was the fatigue but the sensations somehow felt more manageable now. After a while she noticed that her own breathing was slowing to match the pace of Emma's and soon she was asleep as well.

Regina woke a few hours later and felt quite a bit better. The night was still dark but she felt like it had gotten a few shades lighter in their little clearing. While sleeping the two women had stopped forcing their bodies away from each other and their frames were now connected, back to back, bottom to bottom and Regina could even feel Emma's foot having landed on top of her own leg as Emma had bent her knee. It felt strangely intimate and Regina could feel a quick heating between her thighs as well as an increase in heartbeat.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the physical contact. It had been so long since she had slept next to someone like this. Without meaning to she smiled and focused on every part of her body touching Emma's. Then she realised that something must have woken her from her deep slumber. She realised that it had been a noise, she wasn't sure but she thought it had been Emma making a noise. As she pondered this she got her answer. Emma breathed out a slight whimper. It sounded pained and Regina strained her ears to hear if the taller woman did it again.

She did. This time there were words. "No. No, don't go. I don't want to be alone." The words were mumbled as well as whispered and if Regina had been further away she wouldn't have been able to make out the exact words. Now she heard them all too clearly and they made her battered heart ache for the younger woman. Even when Regina had been the Evil Queen she had always had a soft spot for children, she had even tried to adopt Hansel and Gretl, and thinking about how Emma had been alone as a child was always painful to her. She assumed that the blonde was dreaming about that time now.

But then she thought on and realised that it could have been another era of the blonde's nomadic and solitary life that was haunting her unconscious mind. Emma had been left by Neal, she remembered. Maybe it was him she wanted to stay? Emma's breathing had quickened and she whimpered again and repeated the words "I don't want to be alone."

Regina didn't want to wake the woman and reveal that she had heard the Sheriff's confession. Nor did she want to let the poor woman stay in her nightmares. She would have to sooth her and show her that she wasn't alone right now. However, she couldn't think of a way of doing that without risking the blonde waking up and being angry at whatever Regina chose to do.

She took a deep breath and realised that she had to risk it, in worst case she would say that she had been asleep and that it was an accident. She gingerly moved in the sleeping bag and freed her hand which had been laying protectively over her own chest as usual and reached behind her to softly place it on the other woman's leg.

Emma whimpered again but the sound grew quieter halfway through it, at the exact point when Regina's hand landed on her body. To stop the whimper completely and assure Emma that she wasn't alone, Regina slowly moved her hand in a caressing, comforting way. The same way she had caressed Henry's back during hugs as she tried to sooth him after a nightmare. Emma grew silent and her breathing slowed again.

Regina knew she should move her hand before Emma noticed it but she wanted to keep it there a little longer in case Emma went back into her abandonment nightmares. She figured she would move it in a minute or two, however she fell asleep before she got around to it and so her perfectly manicured hand stayed gently placed on Emma's thigh. Protectively guarding against nightmares and showing Emma Swan that she wasn't alone.


	9. Chapter 9

Emma woke with a shock as she felt someone else's warm body against her own. Then she remembered what had happened last night, she remembered trying to help Regina and she remembered trying to get some peace to sleep. What truly confused the blonde was Regina's hand on her leg. Was it an accident? Probably. Or maybe Emma's leg had been kicking her and she had tried to still the offending limb? It confused her and she really didn't want to be more confused right now.

But it also felt good. Emma had always liked women's hands, softer, smaller but just as capable of a firm grip if needed. Emma tried to keep a naughty smile off her face as she thought about just what women's hands were capable of. But that train of thought was a mistake. It sent signals to her body which her body responded to immediately by reporting back to Emma's brain on just how much of her body was touching Regina's right now.

All of a sudden she felt acutely aware of how the erogenous zone of her ass was pushed up against the more plush rear of the Mayor of Storybrooke. Their backs were squeezed together too, allowing Emma to feel every breath Regina took. Emma leaned her head back until it very softly came up against the top of the shorter woman's head and mingled blonde strands of hair with brown ones. Since that caused no reaction Emma nervously licked her lips and decided to make their legs touch at as many points as possible as well. Now they were backed up against each other perfectly and it felt really good.

Emma focused on how the contour of Regina's body felt and imagined turning around and spooning the brunette. She imagined having that perfect ass cradled against her groin and felt herself starting to get wet. This was ridiculous, she thought to herself. With all the history between her and Regina and between Regina and her family, this should not be happening. But she couldn't hide it from herself, she wanted the other woman badly.

She let her mind go back to the idea of spooning Regina and thought about laying her arm around Regina and cupping the brunette's breast in her hand. If she was honest with herself she would have to admit that she had always been a slave to the older woman's cleavage and had rarely been able to stop herself from having a quick look.

Then her aroused mind explored the idea of not just cupping Regina's breast but moving all over the brunette's body, caressing her hip, her belly, her thighs and then pushing its way in-between Regina's closed thighs and touching her pussy. Now Emma was getting really wet and she was struggling not to squirm with arousal.

Then Regina sighed quietly in her sleep and reminded Emma that the unwilling and surely heterosexual victim of her dirty thoughts was laying right there, sleeping innocently while the bisexual next to her thought about groping her body. Emma grimaced to herself and felt ashamed. She quickly undid the zip of the sleeping bag and got up, her embarrassment and shame showing by a slight blush on her cheeks and the inability to even look at Regina.

Regina woke up as Emma practically jumped up and came to the the wrong conclusion. She assumed that she had been right in that Emma would be freaked out and disgusted to find the former Evil Queen's hand on her thigh, and regret agreeing to share a sleeping bag. Emma's facial expression, her blushing and the avoiding looks confirmed it in Regina's mind.

Regina felt dirty and ashamed and reacted as always in those situations with attack. In a voice dripping with venom and sarcasm she said "good morning to you too. You could find more considerate ways of waking someone than scaring them half to death, _Miss Swan_."

Emma just stuttered out a "sorry" and picked up her gun from where it had rested on top of the rucksack. She started to speak as to change the topic and keep them both occupied. "Do you think we will need the sleeping bags again? It's just that they and the sleeping mats won't fit in this rucksack."

Regina sighed to herself and felt wretched. She tried to keep her voice sounding detached and calm as she replied. "No, I'll get rid of them. If we haven't found Pan by nightfall I think we need to figure out a new plan anyway."

Emma nodded, still without making eye contact. "Yeah, you're right. If we are gone any longer people will get suspicious anyway and soon we'll have all the dwarves, werewolves and fairies out here looking for us. Which reminds me, I'm going to see if I can get a signal and text David to let him know I'm ok and that he needs to keep covering for me at the Sheriff's office. I'll be back in a sec."

Emma was happy for a reason to leave Regina and hurried off in a random direction while staring at her phone and cursing her filthy mind. Regina on the other hand was feeling utterly rejected and silly, she told herself that's she should have refused Emma's offer to sleep in the same sleeping bag over and over again.

She waived her hand and the offending, still connected sleeping bags disappeared together with the mats. Regina then started to unpack the remaining water, raisins and nuts while considering if she should magic up some breakfast or conserve her magic energy for a possible fight with Pan's shadow.

Emma was still walking away with the phone in her hand until she managed to locate a spot which promised her one bar of connection and quickly sent a text to her father, explaining that she was still on the lookout for the missing man and that she had spoken to Henry who would stay with Regina. Emma didn't even dare to think about how angry and worried her parents would be when they found out the truth. But she would worry about that after they had found Henry.

Hoping that the text message had been sent and would arrive to calm her parents, Emma walked back to the tiny clearing and polished off most of the nuts while Regina ate the raisins. They decided to both save their magic for Pan's shadow and not waste it on food unless they had to. They had this discussion almost completely without eye contact and then started walking back in the direction which they had come from the night before, in complete silence.


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note:** I will now step away from canon a yet little further by having Pan (in Henry's body) not know how to get into Regina's vault, in the show he obviously just manipulated Regina to let him straight in but here he tried something else first. Thank you all for reading and I apologize for any factual errors as well as grammatical ones. I also apologize for the diet Dr Pepper thing. It had to be done.

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><p>The shadow flew high as to not be seen by the two women on the ground. It watched them for a moment, after all it had no hurry to get back to its master as it had once again failed him. So it watched the two humans walking next to each other. The blonde was stretching her back and her arms out in different movements as she walked. The brunette had her arms crossed over her chest and was carrying a rucksack with two maps on her back.<p>

The shadow knew that they were maps because just a few seconds ago they had been laid out on top of a dense shrubbery and inspected by the brunette and the blonde. The brunette had pointed to a sector on the map and then pointed to a path to the left of them. That was where they were walking now. Not being brave enough to delay anymore, the shadow left them and headed for its master.

It stopped and hovered by the tall tree in which Pan was sitting. Pan looked at the shadow through the eyes of the boy he was possessing with a disgusted and disappointed look. Then he whispered "I assume by your slow arrival that you still haven't been able to get into that vault?" The shadow shook its head slowly. The boy in the tree growled "useless! All I asked was that you enter the place where the curse is kept!" Then he squinted to see the two women in the distance.

More to himself than to the shadow he mumbled quietly "well, I suppose we will have to enact plan B then. I will have to let them _find_ their precious Henry and try to convince this Regina to somehow let me into her vault herself. At least I have gotten to know them a little more by observing them so my time hasn't been completely wasted."

His brow furrowed and he sighed impatiently before he continued mumbling "however in Neverland Henry told me that the two of them can create magic together that is stronger than when they are apart which was the reason to get them both out here. I need to know just how powerful they are. I still haven't seen that but maybe it isn't too late. And now they know that Henry is in danger, I can use that. One thing that I _have_ discerned is that their main weakness is their blinding love for their boy. I can use that too. One way or another, this curse will take place. I WILL have my new Neverland."

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><p>Emma was trying to be patient and polite. But between her burgeoning hunger and the tense mood she was beginning to develop a bad headache. She choose her words carefully and hoped that the woman next to her wouldn't be angry but her voice still showed petulance. "Regina, don't bite my head off. But can I ask why you can't just poof us over to the other side of woods? You saw that there was a part that we had missed on the map, brilliant! So why not just magic us over there?"<p>

Regina didn't get angry, she was too tired and melancholy to manage a proper bout of fury. Instead she just sighed and answered tersely. "Because I don't know where Henry and the shadow might be. They might be in that area or on their way out of that area, but it is all just guesswork. I also don't know if that dammed shadow has set out any traps. The last thing I want to do is blindly poof us into a pit or something. Using magic when you don't have a clear view is idiotic."

Emma gave a dry, sarcastic little laugh. "Right. My idea was idiotic. Glad we cleared that up."

Regina stopped dead and stared at Emma. The blonde stopped as well and stared back. "What? Why are we stopping?"

Regina looked at Emma as if she could see right through her. "Think of food."

"What? We don't have time for that now!"

Regina walked closer and stopped when she was mere centimetres away from Emma's face. "You are behaving exactly the way Henry does when he needs to eat. I'm assuming sensitive blood sugar runs in the family. So you are going to eat something." Regina's annoyance had meant that she hadn't noticed just how close she was to the blonde. But now she realised that she could faintly feel the blonde's breath against her face and she had to fight the urge to close her eyes and enjoy the sensation.

She tried to seem casual when she took a small step back and continued "now, I am saving my magic for Pan's shadow so you will have to do the creating of the food. It isn't easy, if it was no magic creature would need real food. But your magic power is strong, albeit undisciplined, you can do it. Think of food, start simple and think of something like an apple."

Emma looked very sceptical but she knew that she was getting hungry and that Regina wouldn't let this go until she had at least tried. She held out her hands and stared at them, focusing as hard as she could on what she wanted to eat. Something simple…. definitely not an apple…. Something sweet. But nothing happened. She closed her eyes and tried to focus even harder, she thought about the taste and texture of the treat she was desiring. But when she opened her eyes her hands were still empty.

Regina's voice was stern now. "Try properly! Don't try to _make_ the food, just feel the food in your hands, as if it was already there. _Know_ that the food is there. Be confident!"

Emma grimaced and then gritted her teeth to keep from shouting at the older woman. "Well that is damn easy for you to say, you learned how to do it decades ago!"

"Yes, and do you think Rumpelstiltskin was patient and nice to me while he taught me? No. Nice doesn't teach you magic, learning to use magic is hard and quite often painful. But it's worth it in the end. Like now when you can eat that greasy pastry that you currently hold in your hands. Honestly, you could have created something that would keep you full. Something with wholegrain or protein. But no, sugary grease was what you went for. No wonder you are a slave to your blood sugar."

Emma opened her eyes and stared in shock at the bear claw in her outstretched hands. "I did it!"

Regina tried not to grin at Emma's enthusiasm and she tried to control the quickening of her heart as she saw the blonde's dazzling smile. Emma looked at her and then grinned mischievously before saying "hold this" and placing the pastry in Regina's hand. Regina looked at it sceptically and gave it a quick sniff. She was surprised to notice that it smelled of apple.

Emma on the other hand was busy holding her hands out again and closing her eyes. Nothing happened for a few seconds. "Regina, it's not working again. Piss me off so it works."

This time Regina couldn't stop herself from laughing. "_Piss you off so it works_? I would like to rephrase that as to that I encourage you to tap into your anger and use it as fuel for your focus."

Emma still had her eyes closed but she smiled at the laughter she heard in Regina's voice. She loved it when she made the brunette smile or laugh, it always felt like such an achievement. Particularly right now when they were both worried, stressed and tired. She felt a rush of energy from her accomplishment and wondered for a second… could she use that instead of anger? She tried it and soon felt a cold metal can in her hands.

Regina stared at the object. She had seen no anger in Emma's face as she conjured the item. All she had seen was that big, irresistible smile on the blonde's elf-like features. Deciding that now was not a good time to admit that she wasn't quite sure how light magic worked, she hid her surprise by talking about the drink in Emma's hands. "What is a… diet Dr Pepper? Is it fruit flavoured or more like root beer or cola?"

Emma still looked at the can as if it was an early Christmas present. "It's uh… I can't really explain it. You'll have to try some."

Regina looked from Emma to the can and sardonically drawled "oh, I don't think so, dear."

Emma looked back at her, smile still in place. "Come on! Just one sip. It's been a while since you had any of the water, you don't want to get dehydrated." Emma opened the can and extended the drink to Regina while accepting the bear claw back with her other hand. Regina sighed but held the can up to her nose to sniff it.

Emma took a big bite of the delicious beer claw while watching Regina take a dainty little sip from the can and then making a face. The brunette looked at Emma. "As I thought. It tastes like chemicals, bubbly juice and syrup. Disgusting."

Emma swallowed down her bite of beer claw before answering. "It's not that bad! Anyway, this is the diet version, you should try the regular kind before you dismiss it completely. Is there any kind of fizzy drinks you like? Besides cider?"

Regina crossed her arms across her chest. "Champagne."

Emma rolled her eyes before saying "…and besides Champagne, Cava, Prosecco and other kinds of bubbly alcohol. You know very well what I meant, Regina."

"Fine, fine. Well I suppose that cream soda isn't too bad."

Emma made a mental note of that, then she smiled at the ill-tempered brunette and took the can of diet Dr Pepper back. They walked on and as soon as Emma had finished her snack she offered to take the rucksack for a while. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes after that when they saw him. Tied to a tree about three metres away was Henry and floating next to him was the shadow.


	11. Chapter 11

Regina didn't waste any time, she didn't want to give the wretched shadow any chances to dodge her magic like it had with the fireballs yesterday. She used the same capturing spell she had used on the Jolly Roger when she secured the shadow in the sail. It worked as well now as it had then and the shadow was now suspended above them in green light. Emma ran over to Henry and started to untie him while keeping an eye on the shadow.

Regina looked concerned buts still focused. Emma watched her stare at the shadow as her hands emitting green light kept it hanging in the sky above them. Regina didn't look at Emma she spoke, but kept her gaze locked on the shadow. "Is he ok?"

Emma caressed Henry's hair and he smiled at her, hoping that the smile looked genuine. It clearly convinced her as she smiled back and then replied to Regina. "Yeah, yeah he's fine."

"Good. Now make him look away. I'm going to kill this monster once and for all."

Emma considered suggesting that they try to trap the shadow again. She knew that her parents would probably say that they should exhaust all options before just killing it. But then she felt Henry in her arms and knew that she couldn't risk his life again. She turned the boy away so they both faced the tree he had been tied to earlier.

Regina squinted slightly and quietly intoned "die" before she shoot off a large fireball with one hand while still casting the holding spell with the other one. The shadow made a high-pitched shrieking noise and as it burned it crisped up and charred pieces fell to the ground. After a while all of the shadow had disintegrated in the flames and all that was left was little charred black bits on the ground beneath.

Regina let her hands drop and took a deep breath to steady herself. Then she hurried over to Henry and Emma to hug the boy. She held him tight and as he was already in Emma's arms the hug enveloped her partly as well. Regina looked up above Henry's head and saw Emma smile at her. That smile echoed her own relief and joy. For a moment they all stood quietly in the embrace but soon Pan started to feel suffocated by the two women and started to wriggle to end the hug.

Emma took the hint first and looked at him as she beamingly said "oh sorry, kid. I guess we were kinda cutting off your air supply there. We are just so happy to have you back." Then she looked back at Regina. "How about a magical ride back to the car? Have you got enough energy for a three-person-poof?"

Regina laughed as she ran her hand through Henry's hair. "Yes, I think I do. On one condition, you drive us home so I can get a break." Emma smiled hugely back at her and nodded. Regina put an arm around Henry and grabbed hold of Emma's arm and then waived her free hand. All three of them saw the purple smoke before they felt the familiar tugging feeling in their stomach, then they appeared by the Mercedes parked at by the edge of the woods.

Emma looked around. "Hey, where did the rucksack go?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I made it evaporate. The maps are town property so they are now in the backseat of the car but everything else in the bag is gone. Why, did you want to keep it as a memento?"

"Well… um, no. No, I suppose I just got confused at it disappearing."

Regina grinned at Emma and just said "well, it doesn't take much, dear." Then she threw Emma the car keys and got in the back of the car with Henry. Emma got in, started the car and started to head back into town.

Neither of the women knew that they were both sharing the same feeling of relief that things had stopped being so strained between them. They both hoped that they could forget the unpleasantness from this morning in the same way that they had that strange night in Neverland. Neither women knew that Pan was already planning what he would say to Regina to convince her to take him to her vault either.

When the last of the purple smoke had cleared the charred black remains of what used to be Pan's shadow slowly melted together into a black ooze and then returned itself to the shape of a shadow and took to the sky, ready to do Pan's bidding once more.

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><p>As the car parked outside of 108 Mifflin Street they all got out and Emma went to stand over by her car. "So, kid. You wanna come with me or stay with your mom?"<p>

Pan knew he had to stay with Regina to manipulate her and quickly replied. "I'll stay with her. I'm... very tired after all that, so I think I'll go up to my room and rest if that's ok?"

Regina ran her hand through his hair again and beamed at him "of course, honey. Go up to your room and rest. We can talk about what happened when you come back down." The manchild in Henry's body nodded quickly and waved goodbye to Emma before walking rapidly into the house. Both women stared after him slightly bemused. Emma chuckled and added "wow, someone is in a hurry to get away from me. Do I smell that bad?"

"No, I think he just wanted to get away from us being over-affectionate. I'm sure your scent has nothing to do with it" Regina said and stopped herself from adding that she would know all about the loveliness of that scent since she had slept next to it.

Emma ran her hand though her hair. "I do really need a shower though. God, I really don't feel like going home and seeing my parents yet. I'll have to face telling them what actually happened and why I lied and then watch them make the wounded puppy-eyes at me for not letting them help."

Regina shuddered at the thought. But then she shuddered at the idea of talking to the Charmings normally. She let herself think about the offer she was planning to make a few seconds and then decided to just let the words come out of her mouth. If Emma mistook her intentions she would have to deal with that later. She cleared her throat and made the offer. "Well, Sheriff. If you want to, you can use the shower in my guestroom. I can magic you up some clean clothes afterwards as well."

Emma looked searchingly at Regina, simply because she hadn't expected this very kind offer from the brunette. Regina clenched her fists in shame and annoyance at herself as she mistook Emma's look for an attempt to see if there was any sexual ulterior motive in the offer. Then Emma smiled and eased Regina's dark thoughts. With the relief of not having to go home yet apparent in her voice Emma replied "yes please! That would mean facing them while feeling a bit more human at least. Can I borrow toiletries as well?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "No. No, you can only have water. I don't want your blonde germs on my shampoo bottle. Of course you can, you cretin. In fact you can use my bathroom if you like. Then you can help yourself to any toiletries and even make up if you want."

Emma ignored the insult and instead just felt a very girly thrill at the idea of raiding Regina's make up bag. However, instead of verbalising that she just asked one question as they entered the house together, "Regina, do you have any more of those croissants?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors note: Important question! **I have gotten conflicting feedback, I have been told that my many updates are good but someone also pointed out that they would prefer longer updates more seldom. If you don't mind, could you drop me a message or leave a review and say what you prefer? Even if you are shy, you only have to say the word "longer" or "shorter" and I'll get the message. Thank you!

**Possible trigger warning**: this chapter has some mild smut, angst and a scene portraying perceived homophobia.

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><p>Emma stood in the shower and enjoyed the steaming hot water. It hadn't been that cold in the woods but it had been cold enough for her to really relish the warmth of the water washing over her skin now. Her aching muscles were relaxing in the heat and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation.<p>

Earlier, as Emma was busy picking out what soap, shampoo and conditioner she wanted from Regina's frighteningly big selection, Regina had switched the shower on for her and then left. Emma now examined all the various knobs, switches and buttons in Regina's luxury shower and realised she didn't know how to turn the damn thing off. She'd have to ask Regina when she was done.

When she had been choosing toiletries she had also looked at the makeup that Regina had, and picked out a mascara to apply when she was done. Naturally she couldn't borrow any foundation due to the difference in skin colour. Thinking about Regina's skin made her muse over that this was the place where Regina showered and this was the blackberry-scented soap that would lather up the beautiful brunette's skin. She shivered with pleasure at the thought despite the hot shower.

Regina was standing in her bedroom, trying hard not to think about the beautiful blonde standing naked and wet in her shower just a closed door and a few steps away. She had promised Emma she would magic some clothes up for her and she was now faced with a problem. She had easily created a pair of jeans that she was quite sure would fit. A white tank top and a pair of plain grey socks had been just as easy. And if the blonde wanted a sweater she could just borrow one from Regina again. But now she had a problem, now she had to create panties and a bra for Emma.

She ran her hand through her hair in frustration and frowned. If she created underwear that was too frumpy Emma might laugh at her, but if she created sexy lingerie Emma might be repelled again. In that moment she hated how much she valued Emma's opinion of her. Usually, she just showed her interest when she found someone she wanted but now… there was too much at stake. She couldn't stand the idea of seeing disgust or pity in Emma's eyes if her feelings were known.

The Mayor thought back to when she had gone to give Emma a basket of apples that one day and the blonde had opened in a pair of red, lacy panties. Maybe she should create a pair of those? But then that would mean that she showed Emma that she had paid attention to the other woman's underwear much enough to be able to re-create them perfectly, not a good option. Then there was the size issue. Now Regina felt quite sure she knew what size bra and panties Emma would need, but in showing that she might be admitting that she spent way too much time surveying the younger woman's assets.

She shook her head in irritation and waved her hand over the bed and a pair of plain white panties and matching bra appeared. Regina looked at them and sighed unhappily before waving her hand again to add lace trim to both bra and panties. That would have to do. If Emma had any complaints she would have to make her own damned underwear! After that Regina sat down on a chair, closed her eyes and rested to replenish her magic energy. Trapping the shadow had left her more tired than she had revealed to Emma and Henry.

As she rested the thought that she wanted a shower too hit her. After that her brain took the natural step to imagining her showering with Emma. Regina smiled mischievously to herself as she thought about shampooing Emma's beautiful blonde tresses and then watching the shampoo lather make its way down Emma's shoulders and breasts. Suddenly she realised what she had forgotten. She hadn't provided Emma with a towel!

She went to the closet and found one and then listened at the bathroom door. The shower was still running so clearly Emma was still showering. She knocked once but there was no response so she opened the door to hang the towel on the towel rack for Emma. As she looked into the bathroom she realised that Emma wasn't in the shower though. Right in front of her stood the gorgeous blonde, still dripping wet and now blushing furiously. Before her brain had connected Regina found herself glancing up and down Emma's body, taking in the toned muscles and the fact that Emma obviously shaved off any hair that grew below her eyelashes.

Then the Mayor clenched her eyes tight and in an uncharacteristically nervous voice stuttered "s-s-sorry! I thought you were in the shower. I forgot to get you a towel. Here." She held out the towel blindly in Emma's direction and as soon as she felt Emma grab it from her hand she turned to leave.

Emma smiled, slightly bemused and now much less embarrassed. She had never seen the controlled brunette this shy. Nor had she ever seen Regina eyeing anyone or anything so hungrily. She couldn't be absolutely sure but she thought that she had seen arousal in the older woman's eyes and her heart thudded happily at that thought. She took the towel from Regina unwillingly as a big part of her wanted to stay naked to see if she could get the same response again.

Suddenly Emma remembered what had gotten them into this situation and stopped the brunette before she had time to rush away. "Oh Regina, I need your help with the shower. I think I have pushed every button, flicked every switch and turned every knob and the damn thing still won't turn off."

Regina cleared her throat nervously before speaking. "I see. Yes, it is a bit tricky. There is a knob to turn but you have to turn it for a long time before the shower switches off. If you are decent now I can just do it for you before I go."

Emma bit her lip and smiled. There was no reason for the brunette to be this embarrassed unless she had liked what she saw, surely? This was Regina after all, normally nothing fazed her. So she wrapped the towel around herself but ensured that her breasts weren't completely concealed, the towel just barely covering her erect, rose-coloured nipples. "Yeah, I've got the towel on now."

Regina nodded and then turned around. She looked at Emma and saw the big smile on the blonde's face. At first she thought the blonde was mocking her but no, there was definitely something else in that look. There was playfulness and there was true joy and… was that… arousal?

Then Regina looked down at Emma's chest and as a reward Emma let the towel slide down a little to expose her hardened nipples. Regina smiled wolfishly while staring quite openly which made Emma give a pleased little giggle. Regina couldn't stop herself from moving closer to the blonde, still with her eyes fastened on the clearly aroused, petite breasts in front of her. Emma started to let the towel drop further to reveal her toned stomach down to her belly button. Regina unconsciously licked her lips and Emma made a please mmm-sound in response.

At just that moment there was a shocked gasp behind them. Pan had walked in a few moments ago, he was tired of waiting and wanted to try and get Regina down to that vault. The woman was bound to be a little magically weakened still and he wanted to take advantage of that for when he would need to overpower her. He was annoyed to see that Emma was still there. He couldn't hope to get them both into the vault and then out of his way.

Pan might be in the body of a young innocent boy now, but he was actually a man who had lived longer than most creatures and seen most things under the sun. He knew very well what he was looking at, this was two individuals who were attracted to each other and were now locked in a strange courting phase. But he also knew that he could use this situation to get rid of Emma and get Regina to want to make him extra happy out of guilt. So he was going to play this to his advantage.

Regina turned around at the gasp and Emma lifted the towel up to cover herself completely again. They both looked aghast and apologetically at the boy behind them. Pan spoke in a tremulous voice, "what are you doing? I saw that, that's wrong. You shouldn't be doing anything like that! You are my moms, you're both girls and…. and… Emma, you have my dad back now! What about him? What are you doing? Stop it!"

Both Emma and Regina felt their hearts freeze and stop beating for a second. Then Emma blushed and Regina adjusted her hair nervously while trying to find the words. Pan figured that this was a good time to exit the scene and took off running towards Henry's room. Regina turned back to Emma who had tears in her eyes as she spoke. "I think you should talk to him. Tell him that it wasn't what he thought it was. Invent something innocent, you're better at that kind of thing than I am. Then we'll… we'll just pretend like that never happened. Okay?"

Regina felt her mouth go dry and her heart ache but she couldn't think of another solution right now either. Henry came first. Still speechless she nodded at Emma and turned away to not have to see the upset expression and the unshed tears in Emma's eyes. Then she walked towards Henry's room in a daze while trying to find an innocent excuse for what Henry just saw.

Pan stood by the window in Henry's room. He was looking at the horizon where his shadow was hovering. All he had to do now was wait for Emma to leave with her tail behind her legs and for Regina to storm into his room, ready to do anything to make him happy. Ready to take him to her vault where he could finally get his hands on that curse.


	13. Chapter 13

Regina stood outside the door to Henry's room for longer than she should. She was waiting for the right words to appear in her mind, but none came. Suddenly Emma rushed past her, dressed but without any makeup and with her hair in a wet tangled mess. She nodded shamefaced at Regina and ran down the stairs. Then Regina heard the front door close behind the blonde.

Regina knocked tentatively on the door in front of her and then crossed her arms over her chest as to hug herself for comfort. The boy called "come in" and Regina did so. She looked at him with pain visible on her face, the idea that she had done something that made him uncomfortable was unbearable to her.

"Henry, what you saw in there wasn't… well it wasn't that bad really… it was just…"

Pan sat on Henry's bed with a faux-hurt look on his face. "I don't want to talk about that. I don't want you to be with her, I want her gone! I need you, mom, she doesn't. I need you to protect me. Pan's shadow might still be coming for me!"

Regina looked shocked and even slightly sceptical at Henry's words. "But sweetie, she's Emma. If you don't want her and me to be…close… then that is fine. But you don't want her to go, surely?" Regina sat down on the bed next to the boy and stroked his hair before continuing. "Besides, Pan's shadow can't hurt you. I killed it. I watched it burn and you saw yourself that there was nothing left but pieces of soot afterwards. You're safe now." From outside they could hear Emma start her car and drive off.

That was a start, Pan thought. But he was still getting frustrated, patience wasn't his strong suit, he was used to getting his way immediately. Or if not, at least having fun while waiting. He had only spent a short time in Henry's room and in Henry's life as a whole but it already bored him. This made him act more recklessly than usual and even he realised that he could have been more tactful.

Pan tried to think what a young boy would say and do, not really knowing Henry well enough to do a good impression of the boy and his relationship with the adults around him. He made Henry's face show as much fear and vulnerability as he could and put his arms around Regina's slender waist as he quaveringly asked "how do you know that?! Maybe Pan is still out there somehow?"

Regina looked quizzically at the boy and patted his back tenderly. "No Henry, he is still locked up safely in that box, remember? Maybe you are still in shock after your ordeal. I can get you something to eat and then you can rest a little more before we talk about what happened with you and the shadow?"

Pan realised he had been moving too fast and just nodded. Then he let Regina hug him for much too long before she went down to the kitchen to make him some late lunch. He would have to wait a little while and truly convince the former queen that he really was in danger. He walked over to the window and opened it. He gave a low whistle and the shadow appeared out of a nearby tree. It hovered outside of Henry's window.

Pan whispered menacingly to his familiar. "You. I need you to stir up trouble, attack someone and make sure that you are seen. I need Regina to know that her precious boy could still be in danger. Not today though, too much has happened today already. I think we have to be patient, leave it for tomorrow. Oh… and make sure to have some fun for me, I'll have to be stuck here pretending to care about comics and hot chocolate. You on the other hand, you can make something suffer!"

The shadow nodded solemnly and flew off to scout out a good place for tomorrows attack.

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><p>Emma had arrived home, her head swimming with so many thoughts it was giving her a headache. Mainly she felt worry and shame at Henry's reaction to seeing her and Regina. She loved the boy and his hero-worship of her was her pride and joy, she couldn't bear to lose that. The thought of having upset him so soon after his frightening kidnapping made her feel even worse. Then there was the conflicting emotions she herself felt regarding what had happened with Regina.<p>

She sat in her car for a long time after she had parked on a side street next to Mary Margaret's loft. She chewed the inside of her cheek fretfully as she tried to figure out what the incident had meant. Emma felt sure that Regina had desired her and that was great. But there were so many questions still remaining.

Firstly, was it a one off? Maybe it had just been too long since the Mayor had seen naked flesh? Or was Regina just overwhelmed by their experience and had a strange reaction to it? Emma had known a girl who always wanted to screw like animals as soon as something bad had happened, she told Emma that she saw sex as stress relief. Maybe Regina's arousal was something like that?

Secondly, say that the arousal was a more permanent thing that was connected more to Emma and her body than the situation they had been in. That was absolutely a more attractive thought, but what did that mean? Was the other woman's interest just sexual? She had always had a very physical and heated relationship with Regina, ranging from close-up staring contests to actual fist fights. Maybe sex was just another part of that? Taking that thought a step further… maybe sex was just some twisted way for Regina to gain power over Emma and enslave her? Because there was a definite risk of Emma becoming slave to Regina Mills gorgeous ass, that was for certain.

Lastly, and Emma found herself hoping for this option more than she would ever have guessed that she was capable of… maybe Regina was falling for her? Maybe she had managed to continue the great work of thawing the seemingly cold heart of the former Evil Queen that Henry had begun? Emma knew that Regina had so much good in her and so much love as well… maybe somehow she had tapped into that side of Regina and won her affection?

After that thought Emma's heart sank as she realised that it didn't matter. Henry didn't want them together. Henry. The poor kid who had been torn between the two of them since Emma arrived. The kid who had seen so much violence and horror despite his young years. The boy who had spent so much time being lied to during the curse, always feeling that something was wrong but never getting anyone to believe him. That poor kid had been through enough. If the thought of his two mothers touching each other made him that appalled, then they could never touch.

Emma realised that she felt close to tears. She figured that it was because she felt sorry for Henry and because she had let him down. But somewhere deep inside lingered the unbidden question, was her sadness partly because she would never have a chance to find out if she and Regina could fall in love? She shook her head at herself and mumbled "pull yourself together, Swan" and went inside to talk to her parents.

David and Mary Margaret had listened intently to Emma's report on the two days she and Regina had spent chasing the shadow. Her parents had first reacted with anger at not being allowed to help and protect their only child, but after a while of explaining Emma had calmed them down to a gentle simmer of sad eyes and mild guilt-tripping. After that it was only a few hugs and a shared meal until the Charmings admitted that they understood Emma's choice to exclude them and then all was well once again. Say what you wanted about her parents, they didn't carry a grudge Emma thought to herself.

Just as Emma was getting ready to crawl into her bed and enjoy the feeling of sleeping on something else than a bed of leaves, her phone flashed. She looked at it and saw that she had a very long text message from Regina.

_Hi._

_I just wanted to say that Henry is alright. He has eaten properly and had a quiet night. He says he doesn't remember much of what happened with the shadow, apparently it knocked him unconscious for most of it. It didn't hurt him otherwise. He is still shaken by what he saw in the bathroom and it might be good if you stay away tomorrow. Just so I can calm him down a little more, I will explain that it was all my fault, all you did was accidentally drop your towel. It was my weakness for you that caused the incident and for that I apologize. I am sure he will be more understanding tomorrow, his behaviour was out of character today, I think it might be shock. Don't let it worry you, he loves you._

_Goodnight,_

_Regina._

Once again Emma felt emotionally conflicted. Shock or no shock, Henry didn't want to see her and that felt like a physical ache in her chest which made breathing painful. But then there were Regina's words, Emma read them again.

_It was my weakness for you that caused the incident and for that I apologize._

In the middle of the heartbreak over Henry, those words kept repeating in Emma's mind and they kept her strangely happy. Regina had a weakness for her. Even if the older woman had just meant that the weakness was sexual attraction, it still meant that she wanted her and that she would continue to want her. Emma knew Regina well enough to know that the precise and daunting woman didn't gush with her emotions, especially not through the use of modern technology. If Regina wrote something like that… it meant more than it had if Emma had written it.

Emma read the words again and again before she realised that she should send a reply. She thought about it for a long time and erased several unsuitable attempts before finally writing the message she decided to send.

_Hey, _

_Thanks for letting me know. I'll leave it for a while and not come over until you say it's the right time. Tell Henry he can call me if he wants to talk, ok? Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Oh and I wanted to say that it wasn't your fault. The towel thing I mean. I dropped it very much on purpose. It looks like we have the same kind of weakness._

_Goodnight and sweet dreams._

_Emma._


	14. Chapter 14

**Authors note:** Sorry, the romance will continue to be slow burn for a while and Pan will be doing some unpleasant objectification in this chapter, so be warned. Secondly I want to thank Amanda who came up with the label "Emma-sexual". (One of the perks of having the same first name as one of your OTP is that you can use stuff like that.)

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><p>Regina had read Emma's text and had luckily heeded the blonde's order to have sweet dreams. She had dreamt about their night in the sleeping bag on the bed of leaves, but in her slumber the events had changed. In her dream Emma had woken when feeling Regina's soothing hand on her leg. In the dream Emma had turned to ask Regina for more caresses and Regina had happily obliged. Her subconscious had gifted her with fantasies of undressing Emma in the tight sleeping bag and then running her hands all-over the blonde's pale skin while kissing the younger woman's breathe away.<p>

As Regina woke up with a smile on her face she realised just how vivid and exact her dream had been, she supposed that having seen Emma's naked body now, her brain was going into overdrive planning what sweet things could be done to all that lovely flesh. This was still so new to Regina, in her life sex had always meant a man's body. A wide chest with hard muscles to lay her own softness against and a then a lower hardness that would come into her softness.

As she laid in bed now, still a sleepy smile on her face she thought about the prospect of making love to someone who was soft as well. How would their bodies fit together? What did two women do to pleasure each other? She assumed that fingers and mouth could be used as men had used them on her in the past… but what was it like to pleasure a woman? To be more specific, what was it like to pleasure a tall, sexy blonde? Now Regina thought about Emma's slender, long legs clad in that tight jeans material the blonde was so found of. She wondered if those legs had the same slim yet defined muscles that her arms had, for some reason she hadn't looked at that during her short glimpse of the naked blonde. She had been busy looking at other parts of Emma.

The thought of what happened when she saw Emma naked ruined Regina's sensual light-heartedness and she remembered the disgust and betrayal in Henry's voice. All of a sudden Regina wished that she had brought more of the outside world into Storybrooke. She knew that homosexuality was becoming quite accepted in many parts of the world. She considered letting Henry read about some of the European countries that had gender-neutral marriages, same-sex adoptions and inseminations and legislation protecting fiercely against any kind of discrimination. Regina had looked it all up online after texting Emma last night.

There must be some way of convincing Henry that what she was feeling for Emma wasn't more wrong than what she had felt for men in the past. In her search for that, Regina had also tried to search the web for the exact title of what she was now that she had realised that she desired a woman. But there was so much alien terminology and it confused her. Regina had squinted at words like bisexual, pansexual (apparently not to do with Peter Pan), omnisexual, queer and not been able to quite decide what she was, except for a very confused woman who should probably get some sleep. Emma was the only woman she had ever desired. Maybe she was Emma-sexual? She cleared the thoughts out of her mind and got up to start the day.

Dressed in black slacks and a white shirt and in full make-up she walked down the hall. She stopped to knock on Henry's door and when she heard a sleepy grumbling as a reply she let herself in. "Time to wake up, my little prince." She walked over to the bed and bent over to kiss Henry's hair. "Breakfast will be in fifteen minutes so you should wake up, wash and get some clothes on."

Pan opened his eyes and for a minute he forgot who he was supposed to be. In front of him he saw a deliciously sexy woman smiling at him and now caressing his cheek. Bending over as she was, he could see down her cleavage where a straining button was trying to conceal a pair of breasts that looked to be the perfect size to fit a pair of hands when cupped. It was only when he felt his childish body not respond that he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be the age-old king of the lost boys now but an innocent young boy. He felt annoyed at this, being Henry was such a nuisance.

Regina tried again. "Henry, did you hear me? You have to wake up and get ready for breakfast. Don't worry, it's a Saturday so you don't have to go to school today. Which reminds me, I should call the school and explain why you weren't there yesterday. Get ready and I'll see you downstairs!" Regina smiled at him affectionately and left the room. Pan grumbled but got up. He slowly put on some of Henry's clothes and winced at his image in the mirror. He had to get this plan in action before he told them all to go to hell and blew his cover.

When he came downstairs he leaned against the kitchen island, giving him a perfect view of Regina making breakfast. He grudgingly acknowledged that she was attractive. He hadn't thought about women in a long time, as a man in the Enchanted Forest he had loved women but he had shunned them as soon as he learned that they came with responsibility and demands. And children. So he decided to keep away from them in Neverland and it had worked most of the time. Maybe it was the dreamy childlike ambiance of that place which kept his libido mainly dormant.

But as he looked at the woman who was cooking he remembered what he had been without for so long. She was really something. That sensual voice, those curves, that flawless olive skin and that amazingly sexy smile. No wonder that the blonde lost girl desired her. But then that Emma Swan was quite the looker too if he was honest.

Pan shook his head. He had not come all this way and waited all this time to have his head turned by wenches. He had a new kingdom to create and then rule. Power would always be more alluring than women. Regina plated up scrambled eggs, bacon and placed a toaster and some bread on the table. Finally she got some croissants, butter and some jam and placed that on the table as well. She poured them both a glass of orange juice and as an afterthought she got herself some coffee as well. They sat down to eat and Pan helped himself to plenty of food, especially the scrambled eggs. Suddenly he noticed that Regina was looking at him.

He frowned and looked back. "What?"

"No, nothing. It's just that I am shocked that you haven't asked for that over-sugared cereal of yours yet." Regina placed a napkin on her lap and picked up a piece of wholegrain bread to toast.

Pan swallowed quickly. Damn this was hard. "Well, your eggs were just so nice today that I didn't want to upset you by asking for something else."

Regina nodded slowly as if digesting that. "Alright, well that was very thoughtful of you."

Pan decided that he was going to have to have another stab at this. "Mom, what are you doing today?"

Regina smiled "I thought I'd spend the day with you, dear. I thought we could go riding? I'm dying to see how you have been getting along with your lessons and to be honest it has been way too long since I was on a horse, I don't want to lose my skills completely" she joked and drank some black coffee.

"Do you really think that is such a good idea, mom? I can't stop feeling like we are in danger. Maybe we should be preparing for the worst? Maybe we should go to your vault to be safe? That is where you keep all your magic stuff, right? You said that the first night when we were back from Neverland."

Regina looked at the boy opposite her curiously. "Well yes, yes I did. But you have known that longer than that, sweetie. You have been in that vault before, remember? But I see no reason to go there now. You're safe from Pan's shadow and there is nothing else chasing us right now. Let's just enjoy that and have some time together. I feel like I haven't spent any quality time with you since Emma came to town."

Regina nervously played with the napkin in her lap as she continued "Speaking of Emma. Are you sure you don't want to see her today? You seem to be feeling better and I'm sure that if you saw us together, being just as we always have been, you would forget all about that incident in the bathroom. She did just drop that towel you know. That was all."

Pan felt his frustration fill Henry's bloodstream and pump through his body. Why didn't this work? That shadow better do its deed so he can convince Regina that he is in danger. If only the shadow had been able to break in to the vault while he had Emma and Regina preoccupied out in the woods! Pan realised that Regina was staring at him, he had been lost in his own thoughts but the nagging woman clearly wanted some kind of response.

Annoyed and distracted he just spat "What? Oh her. No, it's best if she stays away. I want to be alone with you, mom." Then he focused on his breakfast once more and brooded fumingly.

Regina was left staring at him, realising that something was wrong. Maybe he really was in serious shock. Post-traumatic stress, maybe? She briefly considered taking him to Doctor Hopper after breakfast but then that cricket had never been able to solve Henry's problems in the past. No, she would have to talk to someone who knew Henry better, someone who would be more proactive. She needed to talk to Emma. She felt her breathing quicken as she thought about talking to Emma again and admonished herself for it. This was about Henry, not her feelings.

She drank another dainty sip of her coffee and spoke musingly. "Henry, I think I'll drop you off at the stables and you can spend some time with the horses without me. Muck out some stables, talk to your riding trainer and then pick out a good pair of horses for us. I just have a quick work thing I have to do and then I'll join you."

Pan didn't really care what they did, he was just biding his time until he got news of the shadow's attack and could convince Regina of the imminent danger and so he just nodded with his mouth full of bacon.


	15. Chapter 15

**Authors note:** I would like to apologize for the constant appearance of pastry in this story and guarantee you all that despite baking goods constantly popping up I'm not actually hungry. Thank you for reading!

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><p>With Henry dropped off at the stables Regina had come home. She stood with her phone in her hand and stared at it. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was Regina Mills. She was the Mayor, she was a true Queen and she was one of the greatest magical practitioners of all time… she could most certainly call a pretty blonde without quivering like a rain-soaked dormouse.<p>

Emma was in the Sheriff's office, wishing that she didn't have to work weekends, when the call came in. She looked at the screen and felt her palms go slightly moist, Regina had always made her slightly nervous but now that they had established some form of attraction for each other… it was so much worse than before. She tried to make her voice sound playful and relaxed as she answered.

"Hello Madame Mayor. How can I help you?"

Regina grinned wolfishly. Oh she could think of so many ways the blonde could… help her. She couldn't keep that thought from tainting her voice with sensuality as she replied. "Well, Sheriff. I must say that I am impressed with your wish to be of service."

"Well as you are the Mayor I suppose you are technically my boss, so you get a little extra attention and speedy service." Emma suddenly felt uncomfortable at her own words, she scrunched her eyes up and cursed herself for being embarrassing. But she didn't have to worry as Regina was still enjoying the hesitant but yet playful banter.

"I see. Well I was going to ask you to come over so we could discuss something but as you are so willing to take orders from your… boss. I will just say that it is an order. I expect you here in five minutes, Miss Swan."

Emma grinned. "No, some of us are actually working today. Make it ten."

Regina laughed her throaty yet somehow melodic laugh. "It's a deal. See you in ten minutes, Sheriff."

Emma knew that Regina had hung up, but she still stood there with the phone in her hand, smiling like an idiot. God how she loved to make Regina laugh. Suddenly she realised that she had no idea what it was that Regina wanted to talk about, but somehow, it didn't really matter.

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><p>Ten minutes later she had driven over to 108 Mifflin Street and was sitting in the car while double-checking that her hair was just right in the review mirror. Yep, the princess curls were in place despite a long mornings work. She put on some lipgloss and got out of the car. As she walked towards the door she felt her stomach do a very convincing impression of a large knot, a feeling which just intensified as she knocked loudly on the door.<p>

Regina had spent the last ten minutes planning what to say and making sure that she looked alright. She had considered changing her outfit but she didn't want to seem too eager. Still, the make-up had been amended, a little more eyeliner and a darker shade of lipstick had been applied. It was harder figuring out what she would say though and she decided to improvise in the end.

She invited Emma in and they headed for the lounge. Regina offered refreshments and the blonde said yes to some coffee. As Emma sat down on the sofa, Regina went to fetch the drinks. When she returned Emma saw that perched preciously on the saucer below her cup of coffee was a croissant. Regina held a small milk jug in her hand and spoke when she saw Emma look at the pastry. "Feel free to leave the croissant if you aren't peckish. I just wanted to offer you one so you wouldn't have to inquire about them. Again. I seem to recall that you prefer milk in your coffee?"

Emma looked up at the woman standing by the edge of the sofa. God she was making that fitted white shirt sing! "Um, yes please." Regina walked the two steps over to Emma and bent down to pour some milk into the cup. Regina watched the milk swirl into the pool of black coffee in the mug and make beautiful patterns before the two liquids blended. Emma on the other hand was busy watching Regina up close. Her beautiful face was so close that Emma could almost kiss her and damn… she smelled so good!

The fact that they were both so distracted meant that neither of them noticed that the milk jug had dripped a drop of milk onto Emma's hand holding the saucer. A perfectly round drop of milk balanced on her thumb now. Regina finally saw it and her nostrils flared ever so subtly. Everything in her screamed _lick it up_.

She quickly glanced up at Emma and noticed the blonde scanning her face admiringly. Emma's blue-green eyes looked glazed over with lust and on seeing that Regina felt a surge of adrenalin and arousal. She bent down lower towards the cup and moved slightly so she could reach Emma's hand. Then she slowly licked the expanse of Emma's thumb. Continuing to lick long after the milk was gone. Emma couldn't control herself at the feeling of Regina's tongue on her skin, she groaned out loud. The sound went straight to Regina's clit and she felt it start to fill with blood and harden.

Suddenly she felt Emma's free hand land on her hip and then slowly travel back to her behind. And there it stayed, lying flat and warm against Regina ass cheek. It felt so very good and clearly Emma thought so too as she now started to use the hand to cup the fullness of Regina's ass, and she gently but firmly squeezed. While this was happening the two woman were looking at each other, eyes locked in a gaze that promised so much passion and pleasure for both of them.

Regina leant in towards Emma and kissed her softly. Their lips fitted together so perfectly and the kiss was repeated and then became an endless exploration of each other's lips and gradually their tongues as well. Suddenly they were kissing deeply but still slowly. Agonizingly slowly, neither of them hurrying up at the fear of seeming too eager and ruining the mood. There was also something else holding them back. They both felt like this was something fragile, something that could be taken away from them at any moment, something that wasn't really theirs to have.

Emma felt her hand holding the cup and saucer shake slightly and worried about spilling, but she worried more about never getting to taste Regina's wonderful mouth again if she stopped the kiss. Her body was showing every sign of arousal now, she had goose bumps, her nipples were rock hard in her bra, her mind was filling with ways to get Regina naked fast and her pussy was feeling warm and tingling. Emma knew that if she shifted in her seat she would feel that she was increasingly wet.

Regina was fully aware that she was supposed to be discussing Henry's strange behaviour and she was equally aware that she shouldn't be doing any of this with Emma. They had said they would keep away from this sort of behaviour for Henry's sake. At least until Regina could convince the boy that this wasn't something sinister and unnatural. She promised herself that she wouldn't let this go too far. Just some kissing and touching and then she would break it off. She would enjoy the blonde's soft mouth now and then not taste it again until Henry was fine with it.

Regina gently nipped at Emma's lower lip, she had always been a bit of a biter between the sheets and nothing turned her on as much as a lover who would let her bite them possessively but affectionately. She had time to unwillingly picture how beautiful Emma's breasts would look marked with gentle bite marks and hickeys before the phone rang. Regina broke off the kiss at the sound and Emma whimpered at the loss of contact. Regina looked at Emma and said in a breathy voice "sorry, but it might be Henry. I have to answer it." Emma squeezed Regina's ass again just in case she wouldn't get another chance and then replied "ok, but please come back soon. I really need to do that again."

Regina smiled at the comment and the determination in Emma's voice as she hurried to the phone. She picked it up and answered.

"Regina Mills speaking."

"Regina! It's David. Something horrible has happened! The blue fairy has been attacked! Me, Snow, Hook and Neal are here at the convent. You have to hurry down here and bring Henry, we need to keep him close. I can't get hold of Emma, she isn't answering her cell phone but as soon as I reach her I'll get her to come down here too!"

"Did you say that the blue fairy was attacked?"

David's voice was urgent and close to panic. "Yeah!"

"JUST the blue fairy?" Regina asked and thought about the annoying and meddling fairy.

Now David's voice sounded unsure. He didn't get why Regina sounded so calm. "Well…eh... yeah."

Regina looked back into the lounge and saw Emma sitting on the sofa. The blonde had put her coffee down on the table and now appeared to be touching and examining her clearly erect nipples through her shirt. Regina licked her lips and tried to keep the arousal out of her voice as she answered David.

"Well, I don't mean to sound insensitive here, but the blue fairy wasn't exactly loved. Maybe Tinkerbell snapped or something? I suggest you get Gold to come down there. He is their landlord after all. I am rather busy right now, Emma is here and we are having an important discussion about our son."

David sounded like he was losing his temper with his old enemy now. "But Regina! It was the shadow! It's was Pan's shadow! We all saw it!"

Now Regina felt the panicked reaction that David had expected. "The shadow? But that is impossible, I vanquished that in the woods!"

"Well then think it has a twin brother because we all clearly saw it, Regina! Please get over here and bring Emma and Henry. We need to all be safe together and figure this out!"

Emma had come rushing to Regina's side when she heard the brunette's voice grow louder and more upset. Regina looked at her while she gave David her answer.

"Yes, we'll head over there now, we just have to stop by the stables and fetch Henry. Stay out of the open and warn as many people as you can about the shadow"

David's voice sounded relieved. "Ok! Hurry!"

Regina hung up and explained what had happened. She put her hand on Emma's arm but when quickly retracted it. The playful and irresistibly sexy moment from before was well and truly gone and once again Regina felt like touching Emma was a sin. She spoke instead. "We should take my car, it's faster." Emma nodded and they both headed for the door in a quick pace.


	16. Chapter 16

**Authors note:** From now on I'll be weaving in and out of canon so don't try and fit the pieces together with what we saw on the show, my story will be different in quite a few places. Thank you for reading and for your patience, remember that I warned you that the romance would be slow burn.

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><p>Regina's Mercedes sped down the small streets of Storybrooke on the way to the stables. Both women in the car were lost in their own thoughts and worries and the silence felt pressuring. In the end Emma had to say something to keep herself from continuously gnawing at the inside of her own cheek.<p>

"So, what was it you actually wanted me to come over for?"

Regina looked confused for a moment as she was dragged out of her own musings about the shadow and what it would take to defeat it. "Excuse me? Oh, yes. Henry. He's been acting very strangely ever since we got back. He's distant, moody and he… well… he looks at me strangely. He also seems obsessed with my magic and through that, my vault." She broke off as if she was considering whether or not to continue.

Regina fastened her grip on the steering wheel and took a deep breath before admitting her motives. "At first I tried to convince myself that I was just imagining it, simply because I was so happy that Henry wanted to stay with me. That he wanted to be with _me_ to feel safe. I hadn't felt that he still saw me as his mother for quite a long time but that night I really felt that way again. However, now I have to admit, there _is_ something wrong. He doesn't seem like himself. I'm sure it's just the shock or perhaps he isn't sleeping well after Neverland? One way or another I wanted to discuss it with you."

Emma appreciated Regina's honesty but didn't' mention it as to avoid embarrassing the older woman. "Well, I haven't spent that much time with him so I wouldn't know. It seemed a bit strange to me that he didn't care about his Fairytale book when we got back from Neverland and yeah, I have to admit that I was surprised that he was so eager to be with you, no offense meant. But I thought it might just be shock or stress, like you said. Anyway, we'll keep an eye on him now when we pick him up."

Regina breathed more calmly and felt suddenly safer now that they shared her concerns and vigilance. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Thank you."

"Hey, he's my kid too. You may have been forced to deal with any Henry-problems on your own before, but now that there is two of us we can share the load and help each other out. Right?" Emma smiled a little and put her hand on Regina's thigh in a purely reassuring gesture. However, the seemingly innocent touch shot straight through Regina's nervous system to the part of her brain housing her libido. She swerved the car ever so slightly and gasped a little. Why did Emma's touch have to feel so good?

Emma retracted her hand quickly, she suddenly felt shy and anxious about having overstepped the mark. Regina quickly glanced over to her and gave her a brief smile. "It's quite alright, Ms Swan. In fact it felt a lot more than just alright. But I think we better keep away from touching each other for now. Especially when we pick Henry up."

Emma nodded sadly and said "yup, no homo in front of the kid" in a sardonic voice.

Regina looked at Emma as if she had spoken a foreign language. "Excuse me?"

"Um_, No Homo_… it's a slang-like expression that certain homophobic people say to guarantee that their everyday dealings with people of their own sex isn't…well, seen as gay."

Regina raised her eyebrows. "I see. How ridiculous. Anyway, is that what you identify as? Gay, I mean."

Emma watched Regina and noticed that the other woman looked tense, her whole body language looked like she was ready to bolt out of the car if Emma said the wrong thing. What was she afraid Emma would say? That she was straight and had mistaken Regina for a man? Surely by now she knew that Emma was very much interested in her, right?

"No, I'm bisexual actually. Not that it matters much to me, labels I mean. I fall for whomever I fall for and then I can amend my label if needed. Like right now, right now I am very much into hot women in white shirts driving a Mercedes."

Regina laughed and the relief was visible on her face. "Oh really? Am I to interpret that as that you want them to be wearing ONLY a white shirt?"

The blonde grinned cheekily as she replied. "Well… _they_ aren't right now. But that would be very sexy to see one day, especially if my hand was between her gorgeous legs."

Regina looked at her and tutted suggestively. "That sounds very dangerous in traffic, Sheriff."

Emma leaned in close to Regina, careful not to get near enough to touch her, and whispered in her ear "maybe I like it a bit dangerous?"

Regina chortled cockily and growled "in that case, Ms Swan. I'm your woman."

Emma felt the little hairs on her arms stand up and her heart begin to pound hard. Then Regina stopped the car and Emma's thudding heart seemed to almost deflate when she realised that they were at the stables. Soon Henry would be in the car and they would have to feel bad about their feelings again. As she got out of the car to greet her son, Emma pondered ways to convince Henry that having his two moms falling for each other was actually a good thing. Damn Storybrooke and its lack of diversity.


	17. Chapter 17

About ten minutes later they arrived at the scene of the crime. The drive from the stables had been quiet. Emma had tried to make conversation and gage how mad Henry was with her, but oddly enough the boy had acted as if he had forgotten that he had tried to keep Emma away. In fact he seemed almost chipper, despite Regina cautiously explaining what had happened to the blue fairy. As they got their third "aha, ok" from a clearly distracted Henry, Emma sought Regina's gaze in the review mirror and raised her eyebrows. Regina nodded imperceptibly as to say, yes, this was what she had meant.

When the Mercedes came to a stop outside the convent they got out of the car and walked towards David, Mary Margaret, Hook and Neal who were all staring at a body covered in a grey blanket on the ground. Emma felt a sting of guilt and discomfort when she looked at Neal and Hook. As they walked she did a quick analysis of her feelings. She still loved Neal, but it was a nostalgic love and a love which was stretched to the limit due to his betrayal. Hook on the other hand, well with him it had been more a physical attraction and an enjoyment of the flirting and appreciation that he offered.

Emma looked at the brunette walking next to her with her perfectly manicured hand on their son's shoulder and she smiled. There really was no contest. Regina had won over Hook the second Emma saw desire in the older woman's eyes. She was sexier, smarter, more contrite over her dark past, more genuine in her flirtations and generally a more well-rounded person than him. And she smelled infinitely better.

Neal was trickier, she had shared so much with him… but that was just it, it was more history than present. Regina on the other hand was very much Emma's present. She was on Emma's mind in every waking second and a few sleeping ones too. They shared a son, they shared magic and sometimes it felt like they shared responsibility for Storybrooke itself as well. Being with Regina just seemed like the most obvious and most desirable thing for Emma right now. As long as they could convince Henry of course.

Mary Margaret rushed over to hug Emma. While she did, her eyes flitted from Regina to Henry and then back to Regina again. "Thank goodness the three of you are safe!"

Regina smiled politely but briefly and got back to business. "Yes, we are fine. Tell us what happened here."

David started to explain that they had gone to the blue fairy to discuss what had happened with the shadow in the woods. "We all wanted to see if she could explain how the shadow was acting without Pan's orders. We tried to reach Gold but Belle said he was having one of his many naps since Neverland and well, we didn't want to disturb you after your venture with the shadow, Regina. So that left…" He indicated the body on the ground "…her".

As David was busy looking mournfully at the deceased woman on the ground, Neal continued the tale. "The shadow swept in and just ripped her shadow clean off. She screamed but we didn't get there in time to help her. It was really strange. The shadow seemed to wait until we were all close enough to see what happened but not close enough to stop it. I could have sworn that the damned thing planned for us to see it!"

Hook chuckled mirthlessly while looking at Neal. "I wouldn't put it past it, would you mate?"

Neal frowned and shook his head while looking at the body of the blue fairy. Mary Margaret had released Emma from the hug but she was still standing protectively close as she spoke. "We need to go talk to Gold. If anyone knows if the shadow is acting alone or if it is somehow controlled by Pan, it will be him."

Emma nodded at her mother. "I agree. But first things first, we need to keep Henry safe. Regina, take him somewhere where the shadow can't get to him."

Henry looked at Regina and spoke up excitedly "like your vault?!"

Regina looked at the eagerness of the boy and slowly nodded as if not convinced. Henry's smile looked more like a grin as he said "good, I'll be safe there." Emma stared at the two with a frown, Henry didn't seem frightened at all, just… strangely impatient and somehow slightly triumphant.

Some of the other fairies came out of the convent. David had told them to stay inside but now they had clearly decided that it was safe to come out. Mary Margaret told them to take care of the blue fairies body and gave them her condolences. Everyone else in the group mumbled an echo of her words. Then as if on unspoken orders they all turned and sombrely headed for their vehicles. Emma, Hook, Neal and her parents all squeezed into one car to go to see Gold and Regina and Henry headed for the Mercedes to go to the vault.

As Emma watched them walk towards the waiting sports car, she saw Regina take her cell phone out of her coat pocket when Henry wasn't looking. The brunette looked directly at Emma and waved the phone slightly. Emma nodded at her to say that she had gotten the message. As soon as their car started to move, the blonde got her own phone out and made sure it was on loud and easy to get to.

Regina tried to interview Henry subtly as they drove slowly to her vault. "So, you seem quite excited to go to my vault. Is it because you think you'll find some cool magical stuff down there? I promise you that there aren't any hidden gargoyles or mummified giant bats." Now Regina knew that her Henry would either look at her like she was treating him as a kid or laugh at that. But the boy in the seat next to her did neither. He just looked out the window with that smug grin and said "just want to be safe, that's all."

Regina frowned and tried again. "You're not worried because Emma isn't coming with us, right? I'm sure she and your grandparents will be fine despite being in the shadows reach." Henry's smile didn't falter as he replied scornfully "they're adults, they should be able take care of themselves".

Regina's hands hardened their grip on the steering wheel. This wasn't her Henry. This was a cold, scheming creature with no appreciation for adults. And that grin. No one grinned like that except for that insolent teenage brat in green. She didn't know how it had happened, but she was quite sure that the person next to her was Peter Pan. And he was inside her son!

She made a face as if she was listening to something. "Henry? Do you hear that? Is that the left back tire?" He looked at her with bored disdain and then quickly arranged his features to be neutral. "No, I don't hear anything. Let's just get to the vault. You can check it later." Regina pulled over and stopped the car. "No sweetie, I better check it now. We want to make it to the vault in one piece, right?" She didn't give him time to answer as she got out and seemingly went to look at the left back tire. When she knew she was in an angle where Pan couldn't see she got her phone out. She quickly found Emma Swan in the address book and wrote a text.

_Emma. Get Gold and meet us outside the vault. This isn't Henry. I know this sounds insane, but I think that it is Pan in his body. I'll stall him and immobilize him if necessary._

She hit send and got back into the car. She looked at Henry and felt like she could almost see the man hiding behind the boy's eyes. "No, it was a false alarm. The tire is just worn unevenly I think. I'll have to keep an eye on it." The boy nodded distractedly. Another sign it isn't Henry, Regina thought. This person clearly doesn't care for cars at all.


	18. Chapter 18

Regina and Pan were walking from the parked car to Regina's vault. The Mayor was clenching and unclenching her fists as she walked but that was the only outward sign of her inner turmoil. She was desperately thinking of a way to defeat Pan, but she didn't know if he would have his magical powers while in Henry's body or not.

If not, it would be easy to subdue him without causing too much damage to Henry's body. However, if Pan did have access to his powers, the stakes were infinitely higher. Regina remembered that even her old teacher and enemy had been frightened to fight Pan, Gold had expected the only way to beat Pan in a magical fight to be by dying after all. Regina had to admit that she didn't know what chance she had if even Rumpelstiltskin himself couldn't fight this creature without sacrificing his own life.

They were almost at the vault. She had to stall for time. If Emma made it on time she could either help fight the little psychopath, or at make sure that Pan didn't somehow break into the vault and get his grubby little hands on whatever it was he wanted from down there. The only method of stalling that came to Regina was a feeble one, but it would have to do. She discreetly waved her fingers and the heel on her shoe snapped loudly. She pretended to wobble even though she had prepared herself for the unbalancing, and sucked breath in between her teeth to show that she had hurt herself. As she looked up at Pan he regarded her with cold eyes before realising that this was clearly not the right reaction.

He tried to seem worried. "Oh. Mom. Did you hurt yourself?"

Regina faked a pained smile. "I just broke my heel, Henry. I'll be alright. Let me just check my ankle is ok and then I'll fix the heel and we can do down into the vault."

The boy in front of her frowned. "Can't you do it in the vault? It's not safe out here. Come on!"

Suddenly a flash of blonde hair and jeans came rushing out from behind a tree and a gun was aimed at Henry's head. In a grave voice Emma commanded "hey! If the lady says stop, you stop. Now… Don't. Move."

Regina smiled, as much for that Emma had believed her without question as for her action-hero move. It wasn't necessarily very clever, but it was brave and unwaveringly loyal. Regina looked away from Emma and gazed at the trapped manchild instead while she waved her hand lazily to fix her heel.

Pan looked through Henry's eyes at the brunette in front of him. She looked almost smug and it infuriated the hot-headed Pan who spat "why the hell are you grinning? So, you figured out that something was wrong, did you? That hardly makes you a genius. Mothers recognising their children isn't some kind of superpower, you know. "

Regina gave a theatrical laugh and then drawled haughtily "well, dear. I'm glad you didn't carry on the charade any further. You are a terrible actor and clearly don't know Henry at all. Now why don't you just tell us what it is you want in my vault, hmm?"

Pan laughed back and the sound was cold even in Henry's sweet voice. "Or what? You'll shoot me? Don't forget whose body I am in!"

Emma spoke without a second's hesitation. "We can't shoot you anywhere vital. But if I shoot you in both legs and both arms, not only won't you get very far but as soon as Henry is back in his body Regina can heal his injuries. Sure, it will be very painful for him. But I'm sure that if we let you get on with whatever sick plan it is you have, that will hurt him and all of us even more. So don't move and answer her damn question!"

Regina felt warmth spread through her body, like a pleasurable electric current. She realised that the only two things that could make her feel this truly alive was fighting together with Emma or doing something sexual with Emma. She looked at the blonde now, saw the determination and the strength in her and knew that Emma would fight to the death if needed. She realised that she wanted more than anything to make Emma come hard right now. She felt almost intoxicated.

Pan was gritting his teeth and was seemingly weighing his options. He looked down as if defeated and mumbled "fine. I'll tell you. It was…" BOOM. The noise of Pan's magic tossing Emma's gun up in the air and smashing it against the wall of Regina's vault behind them was almost deafening.

Pan smirked at Regina, glared at Emma and then back at Regina. "Really? I am one of the oldest and most powerful creatures in any of the worlds and you think I can be beaten by pointing a gun at me? Look, I tried this the nice way… all you had to do was let me into the vault so I could pick up your little curse and enact it to create a new Neverland. But no, you had to do this the hard way, didn't you?"

Regina winced. She knew that Emma's gun idea had been foolish but she was so busy schoolgirl-crushing on the blonde that she forgot for a second who they were fighting. She had a feeling she would pay dearly for that mistake, and so would Emma unless Regina stopped it.

Regina summoned as much strength as she could and conjured a large amount of magic streaming towards Pan to hinder his movements. At first it worked and an angry Pan made Henry's features turn into a mask of rage as he stood in the purple shimmer of Regina's holding spell. But then he slowly started to adapt to Regina's magic and he began to move ever so slightly. Emma gasped and stared from Regina to Pan. She could see that Regina was straining under the effort of containing him. She knew she had to do something.

She took a deep breath and did what she always did when she had to try and use magic, she let Regina guide her. She aimed her hands not at Pan, but at Regina's stream of magic, her white shimmer mixing with Regina's purple and swirling around Pan. He clearly hadn't seen this coming as he screamed in rage and was once again kept still, his face was contorting and Henry's pale skin was now almost translucent.

Pan stopped struggling to move towards them and instead put his arms around himself, screamed once more and then began to revolve on the spot. The magic stream containing Regina's and Emma's magic tried to bind him still but he spun faster and faster until he finally disappeared into the early evening sky.

All of a sudden he was gone. Regina lowered her hands and Emma followed suit shortly after her. Emma breathed heavily as she asked "where the hell did he go?" Regina was taking deep breaths as well but she was trying to hide her gasping more than Emma was as she replied "it seems that he was troubled enough by our combined powers to flee rather than keep fighting. I doubt we'll be able to do that again though, he will go somewhere and prepare to fight our special brand of magic and then we won't have any other cards to play."

Suddenly they heard a man's voice behind them. "Well maybe if you invited more card players to this game you wouldn't have had that problem. Good evening Regina, good evening Sheriff."

Emma sighed, still out of breath. "Gold! Thanks for showing up! A bit late though, don't you think?" She turned to Regina. "When I got your text I got the others to drop me close to the vault and I told Hook and Neal to go find Pan's shadow and I sent David and Mary Margaret to fetch Gold."

Gold chimed in, "yes. And I sent your parents off to get Hook and Neal again and get them to the convent. That is where they will find both the shadow and something we will need if Pan and Henry have indeed switched bodies. Then I fetched Pandora's Box from its hiding place under the floor and brought it here. That was why I was somewhat delayed in getting here. But I must say, you ladies seemed to have done quite well without me."

Regina looked at him scathingly. "They HAVE switched bodies. Pan admitted as much to both of us just now. Anyway, we made him retreat temporarily but that's all. We did however manage to find out what he wants, he wants the dark curse. He wants to enact it again, he babbled about creating a new Neverland. What was it you sent the idiots to get in the convent?"

As usual Emma glared at Regina for the name calling. Gold however ignored it as he answered. "The black fairy's wand. It can create some of the most powerful magic, so powerful that even Pan can't withstand it. We will use it to switch them back and then my dear old dad can go into Pandora's Box as he was meant to, and you two can have your son back. If that plan is agreeable to you?"

Emma and Regina both gave it a moment's thought, then Regina nodded solemnly and Emma mumbled "yeah, sounds like it would work" while putting her hands in her back pockets.

Gold bowed slightly in their direction. "It's settled then. I suggest we stay here and wait for the others to return with the wand. I am sure that Pan is preparing all kinds of trouble for us, but he can't actually get to the curse, and many of the needed ingredients for it, until he gets in that vault. That is where we should stand guard while we wait. I suggest you both try to rest and recuperate your magic."

He walked towards the vault and the two women followed him. Emma could tell by the way that Regina walked slower than usual that the older woman had spent far too much of her magic holding Pan. Emma felt a pang of guilt when she realised that she had just lumped her powers in with Regina's and left it up to the brunette to control the magic and steer it, but what else could she have done without knowing how to cast spells?

Gold stayed standing and leant against the door of the vault as if he was just taking a break in a leisurely walk. Emma didn't want Regina to feel that she had to mimic the man's cocky posture despite her obvious fatigue so she went to the corner of the building and sat down while wheezing "Regina. Could you come here and feel my forehead? Do I feel feverish?" Regina walked over gingerly and sat down to check Emma's forehead and the blonde grinned at the fact that she got the proud woman to sit and rest by trickery.

Regina took one look at the grin and guessed what Emma had done. She smiled gently at the younger woman and whispered "very clever, Miss Swan. I suppose I will just have to sit down here and keep you company now. To make sure that you aren't getting too, what was it… feverish?" Emma smiled and nodded happily at the brunette.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note: **Todays chapter is a long and action-filled one but I'm aware that it's still not really living up to the story's M rating. However we are getting there, I promise.

* * *

><p>Pan had freed Felix now. It had been easier than expected as the Sheriff's office had been empty and abandoned. They were presently walking towards the vault while Pan filled Felix in on the details.<p>

Felix listened and then frowned. "So, basically we are going to have to fight them all off to get to that vault. Can you get into it, though? You said your shadow failed when it tried?"

Pan smirked. "Felix, Felix, Felix… I am much stronger than my shadow. Have you ever known me to fail?"

Felix smirked back at his hero. "No Pan. You never fail."

"Exactly. So, did you manage to hold on to that bottle of dreamshade when you were imprisoned?"

Felix pulled out a thin string of twine that hung around his neck from under his shirt. Hanging from the twine was a small vial of black liquid. "Yep, it's right here. Give me something pointy and I'll cover it is this. Then I'll be ready to fight those imbecile adults standing in your way."

"Good, between the dreamshade and my magic we should make short work of them. And then nothing will stand in _our_ way." Pan closed his eyes and magicked up a long, thin sword and handed it to Felix. "There. This will be the new Neverland soon and this time we will have real swords and not sticks. Coat it and use it. I don't want to leave anyone who crosses us alive."

Felix took the sword and nodded gravely while he tried but failed to keep his heart from betraying his ever deepening love for Pan and his gratitude for the sword. They kept walking leisurely. Now that the plan was in action and they were getting close to their goal, neither of them was in a hurry anymore.

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><p>At that exact moment Hook, Neal, David and Mary Margaret had been joined by Tinkerbell in the convent and they were now fighting the shadow. Neal had the coconut which traps the shadow with him and they were all trying to lure the shadow towards him so he could trap it. The shadow however seemed to see right through the plan and kept circling high above them, only swooping down to swat at them occasionally and then quickly rising up beyond their reach.<p>

When all other plans had failed the others convinced Tinkerbell that she had to try and use the remaining pixiedust to fly up and trap the shadow in the air. After some coaxing and after she realised that if she didn't try it, more people would fall victim to the shadow, she agreed to try it. She closed her eyes and believed with all her might and yes, she was flying! The shadow was coming towards her, now was the time to strike.

* * *

><p>Back at the vault Gold was still leaning against the door, calmly tapping out a rhythm on his cane with his index finger. Emma was sitting with her head resting on the vault wall and Regina was next to her, sitting impressively ladylike on the grass with her legs tucked under her. They were far enough away from Gold for their voices not to be heard if they whispered.<p>

Regina had her eyes closed. Emma assumed that she was trying to get as much of her magic powers to replenish as quickly as possible and she knew she shouldn't disturb her. So she just watched the magnificent woman in front of her. Emma did feel a bit tired herself but she hadn't used that much magic and she knew that it didn't matter as much if she wasn't at full capacity, she knew that her main skill was good old fashioned fighting. The magic was just a strange new addendum that she didn't quite understand herself.

She looked at Regina. The brunette's face was different when she had her eyes closed, she looked pensive but relaxed. Or maybe she was feeling relaxed right now. Maybe, despite the upcoming and unavoidable fight, she was experiencing a moment of calm sitting next to Emma in the quiet of the graveyard. Emma hoped wholeheartedly that was the case.

The blonde examined the barely visible lines by Regina's eyes and wondered if it was angry narrowing of the eyes or joyful laughter that had created them. Sadly she assumed it was the first option. Emma made a mental note to press harder to find out more about Regina's history. It must have been one hell of a life to take her from the kind, enthusiastic girl that Mary Margaret had described to the Evil Queen and then to the repenting but cynical woman she was now. As she thought about it she realised that one thing that combined the three stages of Regina's life was passion. Regina Mills never went half-way, never gave up and never hid her light. She shone like a freaking supernova.

Emma saw movement in Regina's lap and realised that it was the older woman's fingers twitching ever so slightly on her right hand. She stared at the long, slender fingers and then admired the subtlety raised veins on Regina's hand. They made an artistic pattern on the back of the brunette's graceful hand and Emma found herself wanting to trace them with her fingertips. She sighed to herself. There was no denying it, she was in love. She was actually in god damn love. Maybe she had been in love with Regina for a lot longer than she knew.

Emma smiled to herself. What a time to finally figure that out, they could all be dead in a short while. She reached out her hand and gently caressed the twitching fingers. The movement in them stopped and Regina made the faintest of happy sighs, still with her eyes closed and her face in repose. Emma let her fingers travel up and traced the veins like she had wished to do mere seconds ago. They could hear an owl hooting from somewhere in the distance and it brought them both back to that night out in the woods. Laying back to back and falling asleep to the sensations of each other's breathing.

So quietly that it could barely be heard Regina whispered "that night in the woods. It felt so good to fall asleep next to someone again. So very right. And I am so glad it was you. I trust you, Emma and that is rare for me. But I trust you with my life. And more importantly, I trust you with Henry's. If I don't make it through tonight I know you will be a good mother to him."

Emma shook her head despite Regina still having her eyes closed and not being able to see her. "No, if he has to lose one of us tonight it should be me. You raised him. You cared for him and provided for him. I just gave birth to him and since I have been in his life… well sometimes I feel more like a sister to him than a mother. You're his mom and I won't let him lose you."

Regina opened her eyes and looked straight at Emma. "Well my plan is that neither of us will go anywhere tonight. But if I do die, I promise you that you _will_ learn to be his mother. Just love him and listen to him and everything else will fall into place by itself. You are a good person and you can learn to be a good mother." Regina placed her left hand on Emma's, catching the blonde's hand between her own hands and holding it there.

They looked into each other's eyes and were both reminded of that night in Neverland. Had they somehow been falling for each other even then? Or was it just a connection between two people searching for something?

Emma felt exceedingly emotional and cleared her throat before speaking. "Ok, so if we are not going to die tonight we will be facing another question soon."

Regina stroked Emma's hand between hers and quietly queried "what's that?"

"If the negative remarks about us came from Pan and not Henry… how will the real Henry react to the idea of… well us?"

Regina looked down and sighed. "I don't know. And I don't know how others will react either. The Enchanted Forest wasn't exactly brimming with sexual diversity. I can think of plenty of asexual creatures and quite a few who sat somewhere in between female and male on the gender scale, but I can't recall any homosexual couples. Obviously, I don't care much about what they think. But I know it matters to you, especially when it comes to your newly-found family."

Emma whispered back with a small smile "oh I think I can convince David and Mary Margaret that it's a good idea. Let's face it, Snow White always wanted to see your good and loving side come out and her prince Charming usually takes her lead. If they hear I made you fall in love with me, they'll probably bake me a cake!"

Regina laughed quietly and cocked an eyebrow at Emma. "You made me fall in love with you? I think you'll find it was the other way around, _Miss Swan_."

Emma tried to keep her voice down but only barely made it. "Ha! That's rich… I was the one who caught your eye and don't forget that I was the one who dropped that towel!"

Regina stared open-mouthed but playfully at the blonde. "Oh no, dear. I think YOU'LL find that it was I who caught _your _eye. I've been around for a long time, Sheriff. I know when I am being ogled. And you only dropped that towel because I had my hand on your thigh while we slept in the woods."

Emma was about to argue further but suddenly Gold hushed them. "Shh, I think someone is coming."

A voice came to them from behind a large gravestone a small distance away. "Why yes, someone _is_ coming. Now move away from that door, laddie. I've got a curse to fetch." Pan, still safely ensconced in Henry's body, stepped out in view and walked towards them with Felix behind him.

Regina was on her feet before anyone had a chance to blink. "You miserable little toadstool. Didn't we show you that challenging us was a terrible idea?"

Before Pan had a chance to reply Regina shot off a fireball that hit the ground where Pan was standing, he quickly jumped away before his feet caught the flames.

Pan laughed derisively at her. "A cute little ball of fire? Really? That is what you are starting with?"

Regina sneered at him. "I was starting with a warning. I'm polite like that. Now stay out of our way until we have the means you get you out of my son's body. If you do that I might extend another gesture of politeness and not rip your head off your skinny body when you are switched back."

While they were talking Emma had gotten a large rock off the ground and thrown it at Felix's head. He ducked but not fast enough and the stone partially hit home. He covered his now bleeding head with his hand and stared furiously at Emma.

"You bitch! You'll be the first to taste the dreamshade on my sword for that!" As soon as he had spat the words out, he lunged at her. She moved away just in time and as the teenage boy fell past her she hit him hard in the back. He groaned but quickly turned around to strike at her with his sword. Regina shouted "Emma, hold out your hand as to grip a sword!" Emma did as she was told and Regina instantly magicked a large sword into her hand. The swords clashed in a loud clank of metal.

Emma stared at the teen with her eyes blazing with anger. "So, it looks like mine is bigger than yours, pal."

Felix circled her and hissed "yeah, but mine is covered in dreamshade."

The Sheriff smiled condescendingly at him. "You clearly don't know the former Evil Queen. But I do, and I can promise you that she coated this sword in something as well. Something that will hurt as hell, you little punk."

Felix quickly glanced at the sword and yes… something sickly yellow was trickling down the long blade. He grimaced and lunged at Emma again with his sword striking hard. Emma deflected his sword-blow with her own sword and took the chance to punch the young man in the face with her left hand as he now foolishly was within her reach. Blood splattered out of his nose and some of it ended up on Emma. Felix backed off while he planned his next attack and Gold took the opportunity to create magic ropes that tied the teen up.

Pan and Regina were still locked in a staring contest and Pan shouted out "don't worry Felix. I'll untie you as soon as I have dealt with this angry little wench."

Regina growled and threw a fireball that grew into something more like a wall of fire before it reached Pan. Pan stepped out of the fire again but this time Henry's clothes showed severe signs of burning.

Then they all heard sounds of many running feet. Tinkerbell, Hook, Neal, Mary Margaret and David came running from the direction of the parking lot. Emma took a deep breath of relief to see the reinforcements and wiped a drop of Felix's blood off her chin. "God, where have you guys been?"

David was panting hard from his run towards them. "We were fighting the shadow! Tinkerbell managed to trap it and kill it. That brought its victims back to life so the blue fairy is alive again! She gave us the black fairy's wand. But she wouldn't help us fight. No real surprise there, I suppose." David rubbed his neck and smiled apologetically at his uncharacteristically catty comment. Tinkerbell, who was standing next to him tried to hide a smile and handed the wand over to Gold.

Suddenly they all stopped and stared at what looked like Henry but sounded like Pan as he said "ahh, more adult sacrifices to pave the way for my curse I see. Well, get in line. There is death enough for everyone."


	20. Chapter 20

With the distraction of the newcomers keeping Regina from constantly battering him, Pan waved his hand and freed Felix from the ropes. Felix immediately went back into attack mode. Emma had lowered her sword down to listen to her father and was unprepared for the coming attack. Luckily Mary Margaret pounced on the teen from behind and pushed him over while shouting "Emma! You, Regina and Gold focus on Pan. The rest of us can deal with this snotty brat."

After that poor Felix stood very little chance with Hook, Neal, David, Tinkerbell and Mary Margaret surrounding him. Gold shouted at them "be careful, that sword is covered in dreamshade!" Emma gave her coated sword to the nearest combatant which turned out to be Neal and then moved over to stand by Regina. Pan stood in the middle of Gold, Emma and Regina and smiled like a child with a new toy.

"So, which one of you is going to try first? Flaxen-haired beauty? Sexy mom? Unwanted son of mine?" Pan's tone was mocking and he gave a little satirical bow when he had finished speaking.

Gold moved closer to Regina and said a few words in her ear. Then he faced Pan again. "Looks like I'll be going first, _papa_." He waved the black fairy's wand and a large rush of silver glimmer hit Pan and knocked him over. As soon as Pan couldn't see him Gold nodded to Regina and ran behind the vault. Regina watched him go and then focused on Pan again. She started to cast her holding spell once more and waves of purple hit Pan as he was trying to get up.

As she did it she whispered "Emma! Come closer, you idiot."

Emma realised that now wasn't the time to complain about the re-occurring name calling and did as she was asked. When she was as close to Regina as she could be without disrupting the beam of magic emanating from the brunette's hands, Regina whispered to her "Gold has gone to get Henry out of the box. Then he'll do the body swap and after that we can try to kill Pan. Until then we have to try and keep Pan occupied without hurting Henry's body."

Pan was now standing up and cackling. He began to slowly move against the magic beam, fighting off the purple rays as if they were nothing but thick fog. He wasn't able to approach quickly but he was getting there. Desperate to help, Emma added her magic to Regina's again and this seemed to slow Pan down extensively.

Felix had put up a good fight and almost managed to cut both Hook and Mary Margaret with the poisonous sword. However, in the end he had shamefully been defeated by forgetting to worry about Tinkerbell. He had decided that the others were the most dangerous foes and had concentrated on Neal's coated sword, David's regular but expertly-wielded sword, Hook's surprisingly sharp hook and Mary Margaret's impressive speed with the knife she had gotten out of a small sheath in her boot.

This meant that he completely missed when Tinkerbell picked up a big tree branch and precariously waved it in his direction and surprisingly managed to hit him hard on the head with it. Having already been hit by Emma's rock on the head earlier, he went down like a bowling pin and David swiftly tied the teen's hands behind his back with Tinkerbell's scarf. Neal quickly stood over the young thug and put the coated sword close enough to the boy's face that any attempt to escape would end painfully.

The others rushed over to Emma and Regina who were still trying to hold off Pan. Maybe it was the added audience that made Pan decide to switch from the defensive method to offence. Or perhaps it was the defeat of Felix that made him loose his patience. One way or another he raised Henry's hands and shot off a huge volley of dark grey smoke at the two women opposing him.

It nearly knocked them both over and David and Mary Margaret made a run for Emma but the blonde just shouted "stay back! He'll use you against us. Go help Gold!"

Pan had raised his hands to give them another blast but stopped at Emma's words. "Help him? Oh yes, where did the lad slip off to?" He began to look around for Gold. In her desperation to stop him and to undo the damage of her words, Emma pounced on him. Her magic made her skin glow with white light and when it came in contact with Pan it gave him a mild shock. He winced with pain as they wrestled on the ground and swore loudly.

Regina shouted "Emma! Get away from him so I can get a clean shot!" But the blonde didn't hear her over hers and Pan's grunting. Suddenly Pan waved his hand and his skin was covered in small spikes everywhere but on his face. Instead his face was turning Henry's sweet features into a mask of grinning madness. Everywhere that his body was touching Emma's, the miniature spikes pierced her flesh. She screamed and tried to extricate herself while punching Pan in the face with all of her might. She managed to hit him just right and finally pulled herself away from him and the spikes covering him.

She laid back and saw the small puncture wounds all over her body, they weren't very deep and in some places her clothing had taken most of the beating. But she could see plenty of spots where she was bleeding and the pain told her that enough of the spikes had entered her to cause damage. Regina was torn between going to help Emma and trying to stop Pan but the second he was up he was racing towards Emma again and that made the decision for her.

She closed her eyes and summoned up all the rage she could and as she was Regina Mills there was a lot of it. She remembered every time someone had manipulated her, every time someone had hurt her, every time someone had treated her like property and then she added the anger at seeing Emma scream in pain with the spikes piercing her soft skin and the fear for Henry's life. Then she held her hands out at Pan, fingers spread and arm muscles twitching madly, and she shot out the largest amount of magic she could without killing him.

Pan was lifted off the ground and held in the unstoppable flow of concentrated magic coming from Regina. The brunette was grunting quietly with the pain of using that much magic and wondered if this was it. Was this the time she overdid it with the strange brand of magic that Storybrooke had? Was this how she died? Emma sat up and looked at Regina. Suddenly the puncture wounds on her body didn't seem to matter and she gently swatted away her mother who was trying to stem the bleeding by pushing Emma's clothing into the wounds.

She limped her way up and was helped by her father who was shouting to her to let him carry her, but Emma couldn't hear him. Everything seemed to have gone quiet but one thing, the noises Regina made as she used all her power to hold Pan. He was still dangling a few feet above the ground but he seemed to be getting closer to Regina which made Emma think he was acclimatising to the magic used against him. Emma looked at Regina again and felt the anger at the injustice of it all, was this going to cost both her and Regina their happy endings as well as their lives?

Emma lifted her hands, but this time she didn't join her magic to Regina's. Instead she focused her rage and her hands on Pan and shot her shimmering white streams of magic at him. It hit him on his left side and caught him by surprise. Suddenly he was trying to move towards Regina one second and Emma the next.

They heard him shouting "well isn't that adorable! The two love birds trying to hold me off from two directions? I'll kill you both and put a stop to your budding romance, just wait and see! I will make you suffer you insignificant… stupid… breeding mares!" To prove his point he fired off another large volley of dark grey magic, but this time he targeted only Regina. Taking the full blast of his powers while being so drained from using most of her own magical energy finally got the better of the brunette and she hit the ground with a large thud.

Emma screamed "REGINA" in a voice breaking with grief and fear. From the corner of her eye she could see Mary Margaret rushing to Regina to check on her but right now Emma had to focus on Pan. She knew that her untrained magic couldn't hold up to his powers and she was just hoping that she was buying Gold enough time to swap Pan and Henry back into their own bodies before Pan killed her.


	21. Chapter 21

Emma saw Pan grin at her. Without the force of Regina's magic he was slowly lowering himself to the ground again. Now he was bathed only in small torrents of Emma's magic and she knew he could break through them any second. He raised his hand to shoot off another volley of magic, but this time at Emma, until he was distracted by Neal and David both swiping at him with their swords. He turned around and with a swoop of his hand, his magic made them fly high up in the air and land with a crash.

Hook and Tinkerbell came rushing out from behind the vault, Tinkerbell had found her large tree branch again and they stormed Pan. They got almost all the way up to him before he waved his hand and froze them in place.

He walked up to them and crossed his arms over his chest as he perused them. "Well, well, well. Look at my old acquaintances, so eager to kill me. I'd be hurt if it wasn't for the fact that you are such pathetic little insects!"

As his back was now turned to Emma she tried to steady herself where she stood. Blood was still trickling out of her small puncture wounds and she tried to ignore it as she focussed on getting her magic to work.

Suddenly Pan let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream. He looked down on Henry's body and then slumped to the ground. He lay very still and Emma started to wonder if he was dead. Then he finally sat up and drew his breath in quickly. He looked around and his eyes found Emma. "Mom? It worked! Gold said he would get me into my body again. Mom, I'm back!" Emma stared at him before answering in a quivering voice "Henry? Is it really you?""

She never got an answer as she just then heard sounds from a fight coming from behind the vault. She could see that Neal and David had recovered from their crash-landing and Pan's freezing curse had dissolved from Hook and Tinkerbell. The four of them rushed towards the sounds from the vault. Emma looked at her mother who was still sitting with Regina, cradling the unconscious woman's head in her lap. She looked back at Emma with tears in her eyes. "I think she's still alive. But Emma, her pulse is so faint!"

Henry cried out "MOM" and rushed towards Mary Margaret and Regina. Emma made a move to run over to them as well but Mary Margaret held her hand up to stop her. "No! No, you have to go help Gold if you can, honey. Your magic is needed more than my fighting skills are. I'll look after Regina and Henry. Go help them!"

Emma looked like she was going to protest but she heard screams from behind the vault and realised that she had to try and help. She also realised that she was crying. She stood up and tried to focus here eyesight from the mist of the tears and then she squared her shoulders, ignored the pangs of pain from her wounds, and headed for the vault.

When she got to the other side of the vault she noticed that Pan had magically knocked out everyone but David and Gold. David was still jabbing at Pan with his sword while Gold and Pan exchanged magical blows. Emma couldn't remember ever being this angry or this tired before. She raised her hands to use her magic on Pan again but didn't manage more than a slight white stream which hit Pan in the back.

He turned towards her. Grinning with his elfish face, seemingly happy to be back in his own body, and raised his hands to give Emma a large hit of his magic. Everything happened so fast after that. Emma had a brief moment to think that she couldn't survive this and then she heard a female voice with an accent say "I brought it, Rumple. Here, catch!" She realised it was Belle running towards them and saw that the woman was carrying something shiny in her hand which she now threw to Gold. He caught the item and quickly threw himself into a tight bear-hug with his father.

He grunted "I knew you would be the death of me one day, papa. But I promise you this, you won't be able to hurt anyone else!" Then he took his Dark One dagger and planted it into his fathers' back, penetrating his own chest as well. Belle screamed in anguish while both Pan and Gold grunted with pain. Those who were still conscious saw Pan turn from teenage by into a fully grown man. They heard the two men exchange some quiet words and then they were gone. The only sound that could be heard was Belle's scream still echoing in the night.

Around them people began to come to and gather behind the vault. Emma swayed from fatigue but suddenly got a surge of adrenalin as she remembered what happened to Regina. She started running back to where the woman had collapsed. Regina's head was still in Mary Margaret's lap, a little detached voice in Emma's head pointed out how odd it looked to see the former enemies so close. Henry was deathly pale as he held his mother's hand and gazed at her sadly. Emma dropped down next to Regina. She could see that the other woman's chest was moving ever so slightly and she found herself wishing that Gold was there to give advice.

"She's moving!" Henry was still holding his mother's hand and now looking at it as it is was some kind of magical item. "Her fingers are moving!" Emma liberated Regina's other hand from where it was clamped between her body and Mary Margaret's and held it. That's when she noticed that it wasn't just the woman's fingers, all of Regina was shivering. Emma broke down and cried with relief while still smiling. She sobbed "she's feeling cold. That means she just overdid the magic, Pan didn't kill her." David, Tinkerbell and Hook were behind them now. They had left Neal and Belle to grieve privately for Gold where he had disappeared.

David scratched the back of his neck. "Emma. Are you sure? I mean, we should get her to hospital, right? Doctor Whale…"

"…is not laying a single digit on me." The words were quietly mumbled out from between Regina's shaking lips. Henry screamed "mom, you're back!" When he threw himself on her to hug her he pushed Emma out of the way in his eagerness. He pulled back from the hug quickly though and looked at Emma. "She's so cold. If we don't take her to a doctor… what _should_ we do?"

Emma looked at Regina's face. She was so pale she almost looked blue but her eyes still burned with the good old-fashioned Regina-stubbornness. Emma smiled to herself as she took the very obvious orders from those eyes. She knew that Regina didn't want anyone to see her weakness and she knew that the brunette would know how to heal herself better than anyone else.

Not caring what anyone thought she reached over and caressed Regina's hair. "You know what, kid. She needs sleep. Her magical fuel tank is empty but it'll refill while she sleeps. She gets like this when she uses too much magic in Storybrooke. She just hasn't wanted to show us that because she didn't want us to worry or pity her. I've seen this before and I can help her. Ok?"

Henry looked sceptically at her and Emma felt a knot forming in her stomach as she remembered how Henry had reacted when she and Regina had almost touched in the bathroom. Then she steeled herself and willed herself to remember that the boy reacting like that hadn't been Henry, it was just Pan manipulating them. She patted Henry's arm lovingly. "Your mom is going to be fine, kid. But how are you? I'm so sorry we locked you in that box."

He smiled kindly at her. "It's ok. You couldn't have known. I'm just glad you figured it out."

Emma looked down on Regina who was shivering still and had her eyes closed but was regaining a tiny bit of colour in her face. "Actually it was Regina who figured it out."

Regina licked her dry lips feebly and spoke through chattering teeth. "I'm sorry I didn't figure it out sooner, Henry. I guess I was just enjoying having you with me again. For a while I thought that you needed and loved me again and it felt too good to question."

Henry threw himself at her again and hugged her closely as he answered her. "Of course I love and need you. I thought you were just a villain from a storybook for so long, but I was wrong. You're not a villain, you're my mom. I'll always love you."

Regina tried to raise her arm to hold on to Henry but she was too tired and she was still shivering too much and so her arm only lifted halfway. Emma caught it and gently placed it around Henry. Regina looked up at her and murmured "thank you".

Suddenly Emma noticed her mother staring at her. Emma looked back and thought she saw a question in Mary Margaret's eyes, but no questions were voiced. Instead Emma felt the pain from one of her wounds on her leg. She was kneeling on the grass and she just now noticed how much that was stinging. She wanted to get out of there.

Emma looked around at everyone, doing a mental headcount. She noticed that Felix was gone, he must have crawled his way into the woods or something. He had no magic and he was still tied up so Emma figured they could deal with him later. She looked at the others and asked "so, is Gold the only one we lost? Is everyone else ok?"

Hook answered first. "Well, actually I am _horribly_ injured and these bruises are clearly going to play havoc with my dashing features for a while. But other than that I'm alright, nothing that a healing kiss couldn't fix." Tinkerbell elbowed him in the stomach before piping up "yes, HE is ok. And so is everyone else, there's a lot of bruises, cuts and aches but we should all be ok I think."

Emma nodded. Her father looked at her with a pained expression. "I think you and Regina are the ones worst off actually, can we at least get_ you_ to a doctor?"

Emma flinched at the idea of leaving Regina now. She felt personally responsible for making sure the brunette was ok. Partly because she figured that Regina had been forced to use so much magic because she had been so useless and careless. But also because she knew how much the proud Mayor would hate to have anyone else care for her while she was so weak.

"No! I mean no thanks, David. I think both I and Regina need to rest. As soon as she feels better she can heal my wounds as well. But we… we should probably be alone. You and Mary Margaret could perhaps look after Henry tonight? The kid has deserved a lot of ice cream!"

Everyone gave as much of a laugh as they could muster. Tinkerbell looked over at Belle and Neal who were still holding each other and crying over by the vault. The others followed her gaze and Henry asked "will they be ok?" David patted the boys head. "Yeah Henry, I think so. They just need some time to grieve and just let it all out. They know where to find us if they need us."

And so it was decided that they should all part ways for the night. Hook and Tinkerbell decided to go out for drinks and get absolutely hammered. Emma could have sworn she heard them argue quietly about which one of them could successfully hit on Ruby, but she might have misheard it. David and Mary Margaret was going to help Emma and Regina into Regina's mansion and then take Henry home for a short evening of ice cream and cartoons followed by a long hibernation-like sleep.

Belle and Neal were left to their grief and it was decided that Emma should go see Neal the next day to see if there was anything they could do to help. David picked Regina up as if she weighed nothing and everyone was relieved to hear Regina cursing about an idiotic sheepherder manhandling her as he carried her to where the cars were parked. The former queen might have been close to death but she was clearly starting to recover. Mary Margaret supported Emma as they walked despite Emma promising that she was fully capable of walking on her own. Henry was stretching his legs as he walked, clearly happy to be out of the box and back in his own body.


	22. Chapter 22

Emma and Regina were alone now. Henry had hugged them both goodbye in the car and then David had carried Regina from the car into her house. He then got the order to place her gently on the sofa from Regina herself. He offered to carry her up to her bed but she had made a face and murmured something about that if he wanted that he should have taken his chances that time she made him lasagne. Emma and Mary Margaret stared questioningly at each other when the comment was made but David just blushed and set Regina down on the sofa and quickly retreated to the car.

Mary Margaret had hugged Emma as tight as she dared without hurting her and told her to call them if they needed help. Then, as an afterthought Mary Margaret had walked over to Regina and very gingerly kissed the woman, who had been her stepmother for a brief time, on the forehead. Regina had looked like she wanted to make a snide comment but instead she just gave Mary Margaret a weak smile and whispered "take care of our boy and bring him back tomorrow, please." Mary Margaret nodded and left them.

So now they were alone. Emma sat down on the armrest of the sofa. "So Madam Mayor. What now? What can I do for you?"

Regina gave a quiet chortle. "Look at you, Emma. You are hardly in shape to do anything for someone else. You are all … well… riddled with holes."

Emma grimaced at her. "Thank you for bringing up my… holiness. That makes me feel a lot better. Anyway, they're just flesh wounds and most of them aren't even bleeding anymore. They'll heal. You on the other hand, you need to get some sleep. That shivering is getting worse and you are cold as an ice cube."

Emma ran her hand over Regina's chilly forehead. Regina closed her eyes at the touch and seemed to be enjoying it but unable to express it. Emma worried about how cold Regina felt and decided that she needed to get the shorter woman into her own bed and covered with a couple of duvets and blankets. Emma took a deep breath and gathered the last of her strength. She realised that she should eat something soon to regain her energy. She leant down over Regina and got a good grip under her legs and shoulders and then lifted her.

Regina spoke through chattering teeth "should you really attempt to carry me? You're not that much bigger than I am."

Emma smiled wanly and tried to speak without panting. "It's not about size. It's about muscle mass and proper lifting technique. And anyway, I want you to be upstairs and I can't magic you up there. So I'm afraid you have to put your faith in the Emma Swan gun show."

Regina huffed acerbically and the chattered out "gun show? I really shouldn't have told you that I admired your muscles back in the woods, should I?"

When they were upstairs Emma put Regina down and leaned her against a wall to get her breath back. "Sorry, I just need a break and then I'll carry you to your bed."

Regina held onto the wall with shivering hands but still had enough energy for a snarky comeback. "Why Miss Swan, I didn't think you were the type to take advantage of a woman when she was incapacitated."

Emma rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Oh shut up. I'm tired, hungry and injured. It's bad enough that I have to babysit you without you being all… like… oh you know."

Regina opened her mouth to reply but closed it again. Emma picked her up again and this time Regina helped by holding on to Emma and trying to fit herself to the blonde's narrow frame. She carried the brunette into her bedroom and gently placed her down on the bed while groaning wearily. Then she sat down next to Regina and began to tuck the shorter woman in.

When Regina was snugly placed under the covers Emma sat back down at the end of the bed. She held her eyes out and closed her eyes. A moment later a croissant appeared in her hands. Regina gave a little laugh in between her chattering and pointed out "croissants now, huh? I guess I have made an impression on you." Emma just nodded and ate the pastry. She was glad for the energy from it but regretted using some of her magic energy to make it, it was bad enough that one of them was risking frostbite and coma.

As if Regina had read her mind she chattered out "don't worry, it will take more magic than that for you to end up like me. You'd have to use a lot of it in an attack or a particularly tasking spell or by healing someone. Like this." Regina reached her hand out from under the duvet and ran it over Emma's torso. Magnolia-yellow magic energy travelled all over Emma's body and healed all the little puncture wounds created by Pan's spiked skin.

Emma was just about to berate Regina for using so much of what little magic she had left when she noticed that the brunette had blacked out again. Emma gently shook the brunette's shoulder. "ARRGH dammit! Regina! What the hell have you done! Regina, wake up."

But the Mayor wasn't moving. Emma could see that her breathing had become dangerously shallow again. She tried to remember what Regina had said when she got so cold in the woods and suddenly the conversation came back to her.

_"It doesn't work like that. You can't just breathe your magic into me, Emma. It's part of you. Part of your body."_

_"So I would have to do what? Give you part of my body? Sew my arm onto your chest?"_

_"No, the only thing you could do is something we are sure as hell not doing. This conversation is over."_

Now Emma understood the full meaning of those words. Putting a part of her into Regina, and it being something that they couldn't do...yeah, the meaning was crystal clear now. However, if Regina's life was in danger surely it would have to be done.

But Emma had one problem. She wasn't aroused. Obviously she wasn't aroused. They had just risked their lives, been injured and watched a man they cared about disappear and most likely die. There really hadn't been any chance for Emma to get wet. And that was what she assumed she needed to be now.

She bit her lip and thought about how ridiculous this was. How did her life get to this? But then she looked at the pale figure on the bed and her heart gave a twinge. She was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and came into this world through a magic wardrobe. Surely THIS situation wasn't the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her. She would just have to get wet and then somehow transfer the liquid into Regina.


	23. Chapter 23

**Authors note:** As a special little homage to the talented and sweet Beegoddess you will find Regina's (well… Lana's) sexy forehead vein mentioned in this chapter. We are now obviously getting into some M-rated sexy times, so don't read this at work! Thank you all for reading and for commenting.

* * *

><p>Emma closed her eyes and tried to focus on getting aroused. It obviously seemed fitting to think about Regina. So she did, she thought about Regina in a black suit with that top button of her shirt straining to pop open. She thought about when Regina wore her tight skirts and dresses and how great the brunette's ass looked in them. But she found that her mind wandered, thinking about things that weren't necessarily sexual. Regina's rare but mind-blowingly beautiful smiles, the way she walked so elegantly, how Regina's eyes glittered when she found something amusing, that gorgeous vein in the brunette's forehead that Emma always wanted to lick whenever it became visible… and just like that she was back to sexual again.<p>

She smiled a naughty smile to herself as she remembered the time she had been reading Henry's storybook and seen the outfits Regina used to wear when she was the Evil Queen, only to then dream about Regina in that outfit. Regina as the Evil Queen demanding obedience, demanding to be pleasured and yeah… that did the trick for her now too. Emma blushed as she realised that she had gotten a bit wet. But would that be enough? Would there be enough of her magic energy in the liquid to help Regina? Once again Emma cursed herself for knowing so little about magic.

Hoping this would work, Emma slowly put her hand down her jeans and then into her panties, she gathered up the small trickle of liquid from her core on her fingers. Very gently she placed her wet fingers on Regina's soft lips and parted them. When the brunette's soft mouth was available to her Emma very gently slid her fingertips in, grazing Regina's teeth and finally reaching her tongue where she gently placed her fingers.

After a second or two, Regina's mouth closed around the fingers and the older woman's tongue slowly moved around Emma's wet fingertips. In her worry and fear Emma still couldn't help but enjoy the sensation. Then Regina opened her eyes and her mouth stopped its machinations. Emma quickly pulled her fingers out, startled by the seemingly irate look in Regina's eyes.

"What are you doing, Miss Swan?

Emma felt a chill in her stomach. "Um. Well… In the woods you said that some of my body would help when you got this low on magic… this was all I could think of."

"Oh and your saliva never occurred to you? Kissing me never entered your mind? True loves kiss and all that? What kind of Charming are you?"

Emma felt devastated and hid her face in her hands. "Oh god! Of course! Oh god, I'm so sorry Regina! I don't know why my mind went to my crotch first, god I'm such a slut!"

Regina laughed softly and then grimaced at how cold and tired she felt. "No you're not, dear. Anyway, I didn't say that I was complaining, I was just surprised. Actually in a way you had a point. I'm going to need a lot more than what your mouth can give, unless you decide to spit in my mouth and to be quite honest… we are not at the stage in our relationship where I would allow you to do that. So by all means, take off your clothes and we'll see if we can coax some more of that liquid out of you."

Emma stared at her in confusion, her cheeks still blushing from embarrassment. "What? You really mean that?"

"I'm not really in a state to be joking, Emma. Go ahead. Take your clothes off and straddle my mouth. But for god's sake do it gently."

Emma bit her lip and looked at Regina with an anxious look. She didn't want to be taking advantage of Regina in any way and she also didn't want their first time to be… well… weird.

"Oh stop looking at me like that. I'm so cold that I have lost feeling in my feet and hands, either get up here or leave me alone so I can sleep."

"Um, would you prefer to sleep?"

Regina sighed. "Emma, if you don't want to do this. If it disgusts you or you have come to your senses and decided that my past crimes are too gruesome for you… just go. But if you want to have some kind of physical relationship with me one day and if you want to help me, place yourself on my mouth."

Emma swallowed hard and nodded. She stood up and started taking all her clothes off, it would feel a little too dirty to just undress her lower half. When she was naked she looked at Regina. The brunette still looked like she could pass out at any moment but there was a satisfied little grin playing at her lips.

As Regina spoke Emma noticed that her teeth had stopped chattering. "My, you really are exquisite, aren't you?" Regina's tone was predatory but revenant at the same time.

Suddenly Emma felt very aroused and very shy. The feeling of shyness was new to her, she had always been comfortable with her body and had usually been the more dominate in bed. But now, standing naked in front of Regina she felt like she was 16 again and about to lose her virginity. Regina's eyes roamed over her body and Emma felt like she could sense the older woman's gaze on her skin. Suddenly she couldn't stand waiting anymore. She almost threw herself on top of Regina and kissed her.

This kiss felt even better than the one they had shared on the sofa earlier that day. Regina's fatigue meant that she wasn't as active in the kiss as she had been though, and Emma missed that. So she broke off the kiss, thinking that they would have plenty of time for that when Regina was feeling better.

Emma started to lift herself up and push her body forward so her crotch would be by Regina's face and as she did she felt the other woman dart her tongue out and quickly flick at Emma's nipple as it passed her face. Emma drew her breath in sharply at the touch and Regina smiled happily.

"Such a bad girl, aren't you?" Emma growled as she positioned herself over Regina's face.

"Oh you have no idea, Miss Swan" Regina purred in a low tone and added "now, let me lick you until you scream. You _do_ scream, don't you, _Miss Swan?"_

Emma brushed a few blonde tresses out of her face and grinned confidently. "Oh yeah, I can scream loud enough to scare your neighbours. But for god's sake stop calling me Miss Swan when you have my pussy so close to your face. It's weird."

Regina gave a tired little laugh. "Then what should I call you? Honey? Baby? Bitch? Or maybe… Mine?" Then she breathed in Emma's scent and made a happy "mm" noise.

Emma felt her heartbeat quicken at Regina's words. She didn't know what to answer so she just murmured "I was going for Emma. But it doesn't really matter. I'm gonna straddle your mouth now and you won't be able to call me anything at all." With that she slowly lowered herself onto Regina's face and immediately felt a velvet tongue sliding the across her entire slit. Regina's mouth felt slightly cold due to the woman's lowered temperature but that just made it feel even nicer on Emma's overheated core.

Regina wasn't quite sure how to do this. Sure, men had done it to her but she had never imagined that she would one day be the one doing the licking. She realised that she quite liked it, Emma tasted spicy and rich but not in any way unpleasant. She tried licking all the different bits of the blonde and found that it was fun trying out new methods and exploring new ways of stimulating Emma. She could feel her energy returning but she didn't know how much that was her getting Emma's magical energy and how much it was just the thrill of the sex.

Emma moaned continuously and bit her lower lip so hard that she worried about drawing blood at one point. Regina wasn't focussing on her clit alone, like most of Emma's lovers, and normally that would annoy her but now it was heavenly. Regina licked every inch of her methodically and Emma wanted her to never stop. When Regina started tonguing Emma's entrance teasingly the blonde had to take charge and get them to some kind of conclusion. "God Regina, stick your tongue into me."

Regina backed her head down into her pillow to free her mouth to speak. "Alright, how? Oh and while I am degrading myself by having to ask questions… how… well how do I make you climax exactly?" Regina voice sounded detached but Emma could hear the worry and the dislike of admitting ignorance behind the pretence.

Oh yeah, she's never done this before, Emma thought to herself. The blonde moved down over Regina's body and laid herself on top of her new lover. She kissed the brunette deeply, tasting her own wetness and trying to make the kiss as wet as she could to give Regina more of her energy. When their mouths parted Regina swallowed slightly and smiled. Emma smiled back. She had never felt this intimate with anyone before.

Emma gave Regina a long, lingering kiss on the lips and then spoke. "Now hear me out and don't interrupt with any sarcastic comebacks or insults. I know that you are new to this so asking questions is completely natural. In fact communication always makes the sex 100% better. You are not degrading yourself by asking me how I like it, you are showing care for me and my pleasure. That is a very good thing."

She leant down and kissed Regina again. Regina made a non-committal noise but seemed more relaxed. Emma continued "secondly, how are you feeling? You seem to be a little more awake."

Regina ran her hands over the blonde's perfectly sculpted back and then clasped them just over her tailbone. "I'm feeling better, thank you. I won't be running any marathons any time soon but I have enough energy to continue what we were doing."

Emma leant down for another kiss, she was finding it very hard to get enough of Regina's soft kisses. "Well your mouth has definitely warmed up and so have your hands."

Regina moved her hands down to cup Emma's ass and then smirked. "They aren't the only parts of my body that have warmed up."

Emma grinned "oh really? That's good, because I thought I would give you some tips on how to get a woman off by getting you off. Do you mind if I eat you like an apple turnover, Miss Mills?"

Regina laughed and raised one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows. "Don't you mean like a croissant, Miss Swan? Oh and what is this Miss-Mills-business? I thought we were supposed to be on first name basis now?"

Emma smiled happily and caressed her lover's soft brown hair. Then she leant down for another kiss and just as their lips were about to touch she very quietly whispered "_Regina_."


	24. Chapter 24

Regina wondered what the weight on her chest was. She had just woken up, alerted to the arrival of the new day by the sunlight streaming in from the window. She looked down and noticed that the weight was Emma Swan. The taller woman was technically lying next to Regina on the left side of the bed but her head, most of her torso and her left arm were on Regina's chest.

Then Regina remembered what had happened yesterday and quickly did a physical check of herself. Yes, she felt ok and her magic was subtly singing in her veins as usual. Then she looked back down on the sleeping woman and smiled hugely. How could such a lovely creature want to be with her? After all the evil deeds and darkness in her past, how could she have such a naturally flawed but still marvellous angel sleeping contently on her chest?

She caressed Emma's hair and the blonde made a little sleepy noise and cuddled closer into Regina's skin. The blonde's hand, which had been laying by Regina's collarbone, slid down and landed clumsily but precisely on Regina's breast. The older woman grinned to herself, even when Emma was asleep the blonde knew what she wanted. The unpleasant thought that Emma knew how to go for a woman's breast, even when sleeping, being due to the blonde having been with women before entered Regina's mind and she scowled for a moment. She couldn't stand the idea of anyone else touching Emma. She sighed to herself, she knew she had to work on her possessive side.

Suddenly Emma started to mumble quietly and Regina was reminded of the nights in Neverland when she had tried to decipher the blonde's words. Now Emma was so much closer and Regina could easily make out the words "yes Regina" and a moment later "come into me". Regina's smile went from blissful to feral in an instant. That explained the breast grabbing then! Regina felt a rather ridiculous amount of pride that the blonde was dreaming about her. About _her_ and no one else. She assumed that Emma was dreaming about last night.

Emma's lessons in how to satisfy a woman with your mouth had been very beneficial for them both and as soon as Emma had showed Regina the techniques she knew, and Regina had come gloriously while moaning whimpering Emma's name, it was Regina's turn to have another go at Emma's exceedingly wet treasure trove. As soon as Emma had come Regina had looked up at her and while licking her lips she had asked "do you mind if we go again? I didn't get time to try everything?"

Emma had panted heavily, smiled and then finally whimpered a "yes please" before nestling her hands into Regina's hair and laying back down to let the brunette get on with it. When Emma climaxed the second time she screamed Regina's name so loudly that Regina could have sworn she saw the paintings rattle on the walls. The Mayor felt particularly proud and quite frankly highly aroused by that.

In fact she was getting very aroused now. She realised that this was not necessarily clever right now, they needed to check what time it was. They were both in desperate need of breakfast and then they had to shower before the two idiot dropped Henry off. Emma's grasp on her breast tightened and the blonde mumbled "mmm, you feel so good" in her sleep. Regina felt her clit and her nipples harden at the exact same time. She immediately began to calculate how they could best arrange their morning to get everything done and still have time for sex.

With that done, she leant down and kissed the top of Emma's head and then pointed her hand towards the space between the end of the bed and her wardrobe and waved her hand. A small table appeared with coffee, porridge, orange juice, fresh fruit and of course croissants on it. Emma felt the kiss on her head and that Regina was moving, but she didn't want to wake up. Regina's body was far too soft, warm and hospitable to be abandoned for something as trivial as a new day starting.

There was also the fact that on some level she knew that if she got up she would have to discuss their future and possibly be let down by the idea that Regina only wanted her for sex. It was better to just stay here where she could hear Regina's heart thudding safely and the smell of her lover was soothing and marvellous. She nuzzled her nose and mouth into Regina's chest and heard the older woman laugh warmly at the gesture.

Regina caressed her hair and Emma smiled. Then she noticed a scent almost as nice as Regina's rising to her nostrils. Food! Coffee! Her eyes pinged open and there was a struggle in her between wanting to stay on Regina's body and wanting to see where the smell of food was coming from. Regina obviously sensed the struggle in Emma s she kept caressing her hair and softly mused "you could wake up and have some food and then join in my plan you know."

Emma noticed that her hand was cupping Regina's breast but that the brunette hadn't moved it, so she gratefully kept it there, enjoying the soft mound that fit so perfectly into her hand. Emma was trying not to be jealous of that Regina's breasts were more pert than her own. That was after all the price she had paid for having Henry. She sleepily mumbled "what plan?"

Regina leant down to kiss the top of her head again and whispered into her hair. "I thought we would eat some of the breakfast I just created and then go shower. Together. Making sure that it doesn't take too long though, mind you. Henry will be dropped off soon."

Emma smiled with relief. She had worried that Regina would just throw her out and never want to talk about, and much less do, any of last night's activities again. An equally unpleasant alternative would be that the brunette would want to do _nothing but_ talking and analysing and Emma wouldn't get any more of those amazing Regina-kisses. But showering together… yeah, Emma could work with that.

She nuzzled into the soft olive skin again and mumbled "I'll give Mary Margaret a quick call. She'll want to know that we are alright and when to drop Henry off anyway. Should I tell her to show up in about two hours?"

Still caressing Emma's blonde tresses, Regina looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table and then answered "yes, that sounds good. If they are ok with having him for another two hours? It's eight a clock, they might have been thinking more like one hour. "

Emma straightened out her legs under the duvet but kept her head, torso and hand firmly placed on Regina. "I'm sure they will be fine with that. Poor kid needs his sleep anyway, I can't imagine what it was like being in that box."

Regina grimaced. "I still feel guilty for not realising it wasn't Henry right away."

Emma moved her head so she could gently kiss just above Regina's solar plexus. "Don't beat yourself up about it, we were all fooled. Anyway, I'm the one who should feel guilty today."

Regina frowned. "How so?"

"If I had learned more about magic from you I could have been more help to you yesterday. That way you wouldn't have had to overdo it" Emma hypothesized and laid her head back down on Regina's chest.

Regina went back to stroking Emma's hair and brought her free arm up to lay across Emma's back. "Oh, I would have overdone it anyway. It's in my nature, I don't know when to stop."

"Well I can think of a situation where that is s good thing" Emma hinted and let her hand squeeze Regina's breast again.

Regina laughed and playfully slapped Emma's back. "Shouldn't you be ringing your mother?"

Emma growled "fine, fine. Just let me have some coffee and a few bites of food first."

They both sat up and moved to the end of the bed to help themselves to the food. Regina noticed how strangely vulnerable she felt now that the intimacy of having slept so close to each other was gone. But as she sat up, Emma gave her a look which spoke of such complete adoration that Regina couldn't help feeling a little more at ease. She poured them both a cup of coffee and added some milk to Emma's cup.

As Emma was having her first sip and grabbing a croissant, Regina waved her hand and made Emma's phone come floating from the blonde's discarded leather jacket on the floor. It landed next to Emma and the blonde scowled at it as if it was an insect. Regina laughed at Emma's facial expression and leant in to kiss her cheek. Then she whispered "if I ever decide to take up my crusade against your mother again I will tell her that you made that face at the realisation that you had to ring her."

Then she kissed Emma's soft cheek again and realised that there was no make-up residue. She suddenly recalled that she had removed their make-up along with the most of their juices off their faces with magic last night. She felt very pleased with herself and decided to reward herself with a bowl of porridge sprinkled with fresh blueberries.

Emma scoffed down a croissant and finished the cup of coffee before picking up the phone. She swallowed the last of the coffee and pointed at Regina with the phone. "Now don't get the wrong idea. I love Mary Margaret, as a friend and as the weird same-age-mother that she now is. I'm only reluctant to call her because I am still tired and because I have spent all night in the arms, and between the legs, of her former mortal enemy."

Regina sniggered and kept eating her porridge while Emma started dialling. As she promised Mary Margaret that they were both ok and got a full report on how Henry was doing, she saw Regina finish her breakfast and get up while mouthing "I'll be in the shower" and walking her heavenly naked body over to the ensuite. Emma watched her go and swallowed hard while admiring the woman who was old enough to be her grandmother but looked like a thirty year old Greek goddess.

She had just enough time to really focus on the perfect behind before Regina disappeared out of view. Then she heard herself say to Mary Margaret "anyway, I'm glad we are all doing ok. So, are you ok to drop Henry off at ten?"

As Mary Margaret checked with David, Emma wished more than ever that her parents could just hurry up and then leave her alone. She could hear the shower going and her mind was filing up with images of Regina's naked body glistening with drops of water. Finally Mary Margaret agreed and said goodbye. Emma threw her phone on the bed, grabbed a handful of blueberries and stuck them in her mouth before practically launching herself into the ensuite.


	25. Chapter 25

**Authors note:** Warning, this chapter has some very intense (some would say dirty) sex and then some mild angst. Oh and yeah... it's very long, which means I have sacrificed quite a bit of my sleep for it. Let's see if it was worth it!

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><p>She got in the shower and stood behind Regina who was facing the direction of the shower. Emma pressed her body against Regina's slightly shorter frame and enjoyed the feeling of being close to her lover again. She moved her hands over Regina's hips, then over her thin waist and up to cup her breasts. Regina felt her worries disappear and her smile returning, Emma's touch was like instant therapy for her and nothing had ever felt as good.<p>

Regina purred "you seem to very much enjoy my breasts, Miss Swan."

Emma leant in and growled in her ear "well, I mean how could I resist them, they're the perfect size for my hands after all. Why is that do you think?"

Regina gave a brief laugh before returning to her purring tone. "I do hope you are not going to start spouting romantic babble about being _meant to be, fate, soulmates_ and all that now? You are supposed to be the logical one that keeps us Enchanted Forest people grounded, remember?"

Emma didn't seem to listen as she was now too busy playing with Regina's dusky-pink nipples and kissing the brunette's neck. She just mumbled "uh-huh, whatever" as she kept kissing at the other woman's pulse point.

Regina groaned and moved her head to the side to expose more of her neck to the blonde. Emma's hands kept switching from massaging the fullness of Regina's breast to letting her fingers play with the older woman's nipples. Regina wondered how Emma managed to tease her more intensely than any man ever had. She had always been able to stay cool no matter what her lovers had done to her, but with Emma she was just too hungry. That hunger reared its head up now and Regina broke away from Emma's body and turned around to push the blonde up against the wall of the shower, grabbing the other woman's wrists tightly and holding them against the wall.

Regina was fully aware that the stronger woman had _allowed_ her to shove her against the wall and that she would always be physically inferior to Emma. But she knew herself to be a much better strategist and was fully aware of that she had decades of getting people to obey her every whim at her disposal. Not to mention that last night had made it very obvious that Emma became completely powerless when she used her sex appeal.

This meant that she could fuck the stronger woman with absolute confidence in her dominance. Unless she wanted the other woman to take control, in which case Emma seemed all too happy to get in the driver's seat. Pinned to the cold wall with the hot brunette so close to her, Emma grinned at her and Regina returned the grin. They might not know if they were friends, partners, enemies or something without a label… but they both knew very clearly in that moment that they would always be able to fuck like champions together.

They pounced on each other's mouths and kissed like their lives depended on it. Regina released Emma's right wrist and slide her hand down to Emma's wet sex. She caressed it for a while and then slowly pushed two fingers into Emma and began to fuck her with swift, rough thrusts. Emma groaned and smiled a smile that spoke of the lush filthiness of how hard and suddenly she was being taken. They kissed again and as they did Regina felt Emma slide her hand in between their bodies and start to rub at her clit. Regina decided that she would allow it, the important thing now was to be inside the blonde as she came.

It didn't take long before Regina had her wish. As they were still kissing when Emma came, her moans and screams were silenced by Regina's mouth. Emma held on to Regina as she tried to balance despite her suddenly wobbly legs. Regina took her fingers out and meticulously sucked them clean, making sure that Emma saw it. The move got its desired effect, Emma felt a small current of arousal go through her still twitching core.

Still panting she growled "turn around" with her green eyes darkening with raw desire. Regina smirked, knowing that the game was truly on now, and turned around. Now it was Emma's turn to push Regina against the wall. Soon Regina felt the chilly wall against her hard nipples and breasts, she let her face rest against the cold wall too and spread her legs to give Emma plenty of access. The shower was still on and they could both feel the hot spray of water on the sides of their bodies.

Emma let one finger linger just outside of Regina's opening and slowly circled it, letting it just barely connect with the wet pussy. Regina groaned "get on with it, fuck me, I know you want to". Emma smirked and just purred "eager, aren't we? Is you pussy that hungry? Does it need me, Regina?" Regina's hips were now moving in circles, trying to get more of the contact. She refused to answer the blonde and was thinking of other ways to get the blonde to push into her.

After a while her overheated brain gave her the answer. "How many fingers were you planning to enter me with, Miss Swan? If you say any less than three I will be very disappointed." This had the desired effect. Emma stopped smirking and desperately tried to remember how big Regina's pussy had felt when she tongued it last night. She had to know. She immediately pushed the finger in and felt around. Regina felt so amazing. The warm, wet velvet opened up to Emma's finger and felt so right that Emma wanted to scream.

While Emma was planning how many fingers to slide into Regina, the brunette was congratulating herself on getting what she wanted without having to beg for it. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to avoid it for long though. Emma was her equal in everything and that was obviously the case when it came to sexual dominance too, that thought made Regina smile.

Her musings were rudely interrupted by Emma pulling the by now very slick finger out of Regina and substituting it with three fingers. She had considered four, but she was terrified of doing anything remotely uncomfortable to the woman who suddenly seemed to be her entire world. Regina moaned loudly as the fingers entered her and hissed "yessss". Emma felt the joy and pride of having gotten it just right. She turned her wrist around so the fingers that were fucking Regina could start to rub at Regina's g-spot. Emma wasn't sure if Regina was one of those women who liked that but she soon got her answer as Regina's moans became more uncontrolled and desperate.

She kept rubbing and penetrating and when she felt that Regina was getting close she let her other hand snake around Regina's hips and start to rub at the front of her sex. The brunette's clit was impossibly hard and swollen and seemed to truly _need _Emma's fingers. Emma massaged it reverently and closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of both the inside and outside of Regina's glorious cunt.

It wasn't long until Regina was coming her brains out. It felt so good hearing Regina cry out and feeling her pussy contracting around her fingers that Emma felt like she was close to coming too. She held Regina tightly by holding her up by her crotch and she felt the brunette sink into her hold, trusting Emma to hold her upright. They stood still like that for a while and Emma still had her eyes closed, enjoying both her growing need to be fucked and the feeling of Regina's wet centre on her hands.

After a while Regina's breath calmed back down to normal. Emma kissed her ear gently and whispered "do you want to stop?"

Regina gave a hoarse laugh and then snarled "not a chance in hell, my dear."

Emma smiled and felt her head swim with desire. How was it possible to want someone this badly? Regina turned around and kissed Emma deeply, their tongues moving together in every way possible. Then Regina's hands were on her shoulders and pushing her down to the floor. Regina was sitting down as well and she made sure she was safely seated before Emma's body was lowered all the way. She guided Emma down the final inches so she sat in Regina's lap with her legs around the brunette.

Then Regina slid her hand between their bodies and held two of her fingers up like an erect phallus. In her most commanding and sexy voice she gave Emma her orders. "Ride me hard. I mean it, my beautiful. Really impale yourself on my fingers." Emma felt her clit pound hard when she heard Regina's amazing voice ordering her around. She tried to hide that she swallowed hard and faked nonchalance as she replied "I will if you hold your thumb up against my clit." Regina smiled proudly at her partners bargaining and slowly let her thumb move into position.

Emma nodded, moved up so she could be on her feet for leverage then and lowered her soaked pussy onto Regina's fingers. Then she gripped Regina's shoulders and started to ride the brunette hard. She whimpered with pleasure and the slight sensation of pain when she pushed herself onto the fingers with all her might. Due to how madly horny she was now, the occasional contact with Regina's thumb was all it took for her to come. She screamed "REGINA" and felt her sight become white light as her pussy spread the delicious second orgasm through her body.

Regina had raptly watched the blonde ride and was now so aroused that she couldn't control herself. This woman was so incredibly beautiful and so extremely sexy when fucked. Regina couldn't wait for Emma to catch her breath, she needed to come again now!

Unceremoniously she slid her fingers out of Emma and then carefully let Emma land on the shower floor. She quickly arranged their legs so that Emma's thigh was between her legs. She wasn't quite sure why she had decided to rub herself against her lover. Maybe it was that memory of accidentally discovering the pleasure of her clit one day when she was out riding at the age of twelve? One way or another, this was what her overheated pussy wanted and Regina was in no state to argue with it.

She started to slide back and forth in quick, jerky movements on Emma's muscular thigh and closed her eyes. A distant voice in her mind questioned how animalistic and dirty she must look right now but it was soon silenced when Emma groaned "god, you look amazing. Don't you fucking stop! I want to feel your come coating my thigh. Come on me, come all god damn over me!" Regina bit her lip and rubbed herself harder. With her eyes closed and her mind so fevered it was hard to tell if she was just imagining things but she thought she could hear Emma fingering herself in time to her riding.

Regina didn't have time to check though because now she was coming. It was the kind of orgasm that rushed through her body like heat and made her fingers and toes curl when it reached them. She gave a high pitched whimpering yell, not being able to keep her voice ladylike or in any way controlled. In hindsight she doubted if Emma had noticed though because the blonde was most certainly touching herself and she was just about to gift herself a third orgasm.

Emma came and this time her mouth opened without letting out noise. Regina couldn't stop herself from leaning in and collapsing her mouth against Emma's. Tired as they were their teeth collided slightly before they got their faculties back and could correct the kiss. They kissed slowly now, partly due to exhaustion and partly because they felt it was the only way to thank each other for the best orgasms either of them had ever had.

Now they both sat slumped on the shower floor, panting and delirious with post-orgasm bliss. Emma dragged herself over and sat behind Regina, cradling the shorter woman's body against her own and enjoying the feeling of Regina's soft ass gently placed against her still tingling crotch. Regina reached her hands behind her and took hold of Emma's arms and brought them over herself so that she was completely cocooned in Emma's embrace. "I love it when you take what you want" Emma whispered happily into Regina's wet hair and held her tightly. Regina just hummed a tired response.

They sat like that for a few minutes, just enjoying the merging of their bodies in the embrace and getting their breath back. Regina took a deep breath and said what they were both thinking. "I don't think we can put off speaking about our situation any longer, dear."

Emma grunted but then realised that she should be an adult and respond properly. "No, you're right. So… we know that the bad reaction to us being intimate wasn't our Henry. It was Pan."

Regina inclined her head as agreement. "That's right. However, we also know that homosexuality is practically non-existent in the Enchanted Forest and therefore has been such in Storybrooke as well. So the fact that we are two women involved in an intimate relationship might be a serious shock to people."

Emma grimaced. "Yeah. BUT we know that people here are mostly good-hearted and that we are prominent figures that they respect."

"Prominent enough for us to be the likely targets of gossip and ridicule at any given moment. Particularly me, as I am not exactly likely to win any popularity contests around here" Regina said as she leaned her head back onto Emma's shoulder.

Emma frowned slightly. "I thought we decided that we only cared about the opinions of my family, and that even that was just for my sake. I thought you didn't care at all?"

"I don't. But Henry has to go to school with the children of this town. Children can be cruel to each other, I suspect that you are very aware of that. Anyway, Henry might not be comfortable with it either."

Emma's frown grew and she was starting to feel dull ache in her chest. "Ok. So what do we do? Stay away from each other?

Regina crossed her arms over her own chest and ran her hands over Emma's upper arms. Then she said in a quiet, careful tone: "I… don't think that will be an option. Do you? I don't just mean because this is a small town and we are bound to bump into each other. I mean that I doubt that we could stay away from each other for long."

Emma smiled at the sliver of hope now slicing through that dull ache in her chest. "No, I don't think we could. So what's your plan?"

"Well, I suppose all we can do is wait and see. If we try to be discreet and only be… intimate when we are alone, then we can test the waters with people. Try to ascertain how Henry and maybe even your parents feel about the idea of… us."

Emma moved her head so that she could kiss the top of Regina's ear. "That sounds good. We'll separately try to investigate how they feel about it and then compare notes. If they seem to be ok with it, we can discuss if it's worth risking the scandal in town to figure out exactly what it is we've got here."

"Sounds like a plan, Sheriff. Now, we should really get up and get dressed. It must be getting close to ten." With that Regina extricated herself from Emma's arms and got up to wash her face and apply her make-up. Emma joined her, still feeling strangely lonely when she wasn't touching Regina.

A little while later Emma had gathered up her clothes from the floor and noticed that they were full of holes and stained with blood and dirt. She put them in a pile next to the bed and indicated them to Regina with a nod of her head. "Well these will have to be thrown away."

While looking at Emma's ruined clothes Regina was fastening a black bra which matched the black panties she had put on a moment ago. When she was done she walked over to the clothes and picked up Emma's leather jacket, it was the dark brown one and Regina remembered always liking it. She waved her hand over it and suddenly it looked like new.

Emma beamed at Regina and the now perfect jacket. "Oh wow! Thanks! But leave the rest of the clothes. You are still supposed to be refuelling your magic and here you are making breakfast and mending clothes like you're frickin' Cinderella."

Regina looked at her lover with a look of disdain. "Do not compare me to that selfish airhead. She bartered her firstborn for a nice dress and a chance to go to the ball. Terrifying."

Emma just shook her head at Regina's brutal comment but still smiled to herself. Secretly she had always liked how bitchy and yet spot-on Regina's comments could be. So in place of replying, Emma just leisurely watched the brunette in her underwear, feeling her mouth going dry because of the extraordinary beauty of the creature in front of her.

Regina put on a pair of black suit trousers, thin black socks, black heeled boots and then a grey turtleneck sweater. "Feel free to borrow any clothes you like. However, my trousers might be a bit short for you as you are somewhat taller than me" Regina said over her shoulder as she walked over to her dresser and picked up a bottle of perfume.

Emma looked at the perfume that was now in Regina's hand. "What is that? I mean your natural scent is amazing but that stuff is a close second."

"It's _La petite robe noire_. It's the only perfume I wear. It is supposed to smell like black cherries. Well that and almond, aniseed and a million other things" Regina said in a cynical voice.

Emma walked over to her, still stark naked, and placed her hand over Regina's on the glass bottle. "Can I try some?"

Regina smiled at her almost sadly. "Are you sure that is wise? If people notice that you smell like me they might guess that we have become, well, intimate. Especially Henry. He hugs me, remember… He will recognise this scent."

Emma nodded and murmured "yeah, you're right" while feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach. She hated that they couldn't be open about this. Regina took in the blonde's sad expression and recognized the sadness in her own heart.

There was a sound from downstairs and Emma felt even worse when she realised that it was the doorbell. This meant that she had to pretend to not be in love with Regina from this moment on until the next time they managed to be alone. That was if Regina even returned her feelings, Emma felt that there was a risk that this was still just something physical for the brunette.

Regina leaned in close to Emma and gave her a gentle kiss, then she waved her hand and Emma realised that she was now wearing exact replicas of the clothes she had worn yesterday minus the blood, holes and graveyard dirt. She looked down at the black t-shirt covering her torso and then looked at Regina pleadingly.

"Please don't say anything sarcastic… but can I take this t-shirt off and borrow one of your shirts or something instead? We know your tops fit me since I borrowed your sweater and well... I would feel… closer to you if I could wear your shirt."

The doorbell sounded again and Regina glanced in the direction of the stairs before turning back to Emma. The blonde looked much younger than she was now and Regina realised that Emma had no clue that she felt the same way that Emma did.

But how could she tell Emma that the she hated having to keep a distance between them as well? That she hated the idea of being apart as much as she abhorred having to hide these amazing new emotions. How could she explain that she would also feel a bit comforted by knowing that Emma was wearing her clothes? She couldn't. Especially not now that the Charmings and Henry were waiting.

While trying to sound as if her heart wasn't breaking Regina said "if I don't answer the door soon, your father will probably break it down and rush in with his sword drawn or something equally ridiculous. Please help yourself to whatever clothes you want and come downstairs when you are ready. I'm sure this is obvious, but make sure you do it before anyone comes up here and sees you come out of my bedroom." Then she walked out of the room with her usual poise and elegance.

When Emma could hear Regina's heels echo on the stairs she sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands. Why did love always have to end up stinging like a bitch?


	26. Chapter 26

When Mary Margaret and David dropped Henry off they were greeted solely by Regina. She looked at their puzzled faces and explained Emma's absence while dragging out her hug with Henry as much as she could.

"Emma is still upstairs. She has had a shower and I would assume she is practising the spell for creating her own clothes that I taught her." Regina hoped that Emma was on her way down and would hear the lie and back it up later, she wasn't disappointed as the blonde stomped down the stairs at just that moment.

"Yep, and I think I did a pretty good job. Whatcha think?"

Henry shouted that she looked great and went for his hug. Mary Margaret and David looked her up and down while smiling from ear to ear.

"You look great, Emma. Well done! So, how are you both doing?" Mary Margaret asked as she gave Emma a quick hug.

Regina and Emma looked at each other, both waiting to see if the other was going to speak. Regina took the lead. "We're fine. I've recovered satisfactorily and as you can see, I managed to mend your daughter for you. She no longer resembles a pin cushion."

Mary Margaret made a disappointed face at Regina for the comment but then relented. "Well, thank you for that and... I'm relieved that you are ok." Then she gave Regina a brief and awkward hug. Both women seemed relieved when the hug ended.

David was standing with his arm around Emma's shoulders and he just nodded at Regina and added "We owe you one. If you ever need someone to mend your kid, we'll give it a go for you."

"Hey! I'm not some broken toy you know!" Henry whined and made the adults laugh.

"Right, we should get going. Bye Henry, thanks for the sleepover!" Mary Margaret kissed Henry's head."

He smiled patiently at his grandparents and said "thanks for all the ice cream!"

David laughed. "Don't mention it, champ. I just have to remember to stock up on Rocky Road again."

Mary Margaret, David and Emma made to leave but Emma stopped by the door for a second. She couldn't just leave like that. Something was required here, even if her parents and Henry were watching. She turned back and tried to sound natural as she said "hey Regina. Thanks for everything. I'll… um… I'll check in with you and the kid tomorrow if that's ok? I think I'm going to take a day or two off after all of this."

Regina exhaled as she realised that she had been holding her breath while watching the blonde start to leave. "Yes. Yes, that's a good idea. On both accounts I might add. Storybrooke will have to survive without its Sheriff and its Mayor for another day or two. Belle, Granny and Ruby seemed to have held the place together well enough while we were in Neverland, they can look after things for now. Come back tomorrow."

Emma felt so relieved she could almost cry. "Great. How about I get here around breakfast? There might be croissants and I can't have the kid polishing them all off. Not after all that ice cream last night!" She winked at Henry who stuck his tongue out at her but then smiled.

Regina placed her arm around the boy and echoed his smile. "That sounds good, Sheriff. Be here at breakfast. I would suggest about 8.30 as Henry is taking a few days off school as well." Emma nodded and stole a quick glance at the captivating brown eyes before forcing her gaze to leave Regina's face.

Regina watched Emma go and stole a forbidden glance as well, but in her case it was of Emma's pert little behind. Then feeling like her emotions and thoughts must be obvious she decided to compensate by shouting "…and don't be late this time, Miss Swan. This is not a diner. If we are already seated, no one will open this door for you."

Then she gently pulled Henry in and slammed the door. There, she thought to herself, that should have made her seem dispassionate regarding that incredible woman and her alluring ass.

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><p>Emma had been home at the loft and spent a sufficient amount of time reassuring her parents that she was ok. Now she was driving her darling bug over to see Neal. She was worried about what she would find. Sure, she had realised that her love for him was of a nostalgic nature and not something relevant to her now. But fact remained, she still cared for him deeply. The idea of seeing him so hurt after having lost his father once again made her heart ache.<p>

She knocked on the door and was let into the room he was staying in at Granny's. She gave him a long hug and whispered "Neal, god, I am so sorry!"

He hugged her back and buried his face in her newly curled hair. The scent of her was comforting to him as it reminded him of more carefree days, those days filled with stupid adventures and eating too much candy while planning their future. When he ended the hug Emma got a good look at him. She could see that his eyes were puffy from crying at some point, but other than that he looked surprisingly collected.

He cleared his throat to steady it and then reassured her "I'm ok. I mean I'm not ok really, but I've got some hope. Me and Belle spent most of the night talking about how there must be some way to get him back. I'm meeting up with her in the pawn shop after lunch and we are going to go over all his artefacts and books and try to find a way to bring him back. Say what you want about that son of a bitch, but he was too powerful to just vanish."

Emma nodded and smiled at him as she rubbed his upper arm. "Well if there is anyone who can research how to get him back it's Belle. I mean, she is the google of Storybrooke! Plus, she never gives up on Gold. Just, you know, let me know if there is anything I can do."

He smiled a weary smile at her. "Will do. Thanks. Anyway, how are you? You look healthy and all patched-up."

Emma glanced down at herself. "Yep, Regina's magic worked its … well… magic." She frowned at how her words came out and it made Neal laugh.

"Ha! Some things never change, you still have a way with words. I gotta say though, you look kinda… worried. Is everything ok with you? Pan didn't get to you last night, did he? He likes to mess with people heads" Neal asked as he sat down on the bed.

Emma shook her head. "No, No I'm fine. We're not talking about me. You just lost your dad, and for the second time! We should be talking about you."

Neal exhaled loudly and looked out the window before facing Emma again. "Well, maybe I don't want to. All I want to focus on when it comes to my dad is that we are working on getting him back. So… distract me from overthinking things. Tell me what's up with you."

Emma chewed her cheek as she decided what to do. She clearly couldn't tell him everything but then she really needed to talk. She sat down on the bed next to him while recalling that she was supposed to be testing the water with people regarding unusual relationships. She figured that this could count as a test run.

She took a deep breath and started by saying "you know when you love someone and you shouldn't? Because you're afraid that those close to you will be against it? And you kinda wonder if the person you shouldn't be in love with really loves you back or if they just you know… want you?"

Neal sighed and then nodded wearily. "Ah, well that answers my question. I wondered if I had any chance to win you back and make up for what I did to you. But it looks like I'm too late. You're in love with Hook."

Emma looked at him in shock and Neal mistook it for fear. "Don't worry, I won't make things hard for you. If your heart has decided I will respect that. And for what it's worth, I don't think people will judge you. Most Enchanted Forest people love to see a villain repent and be saved by true love or you know, whatever."

Emma opened her mouth to speak but closed it again. She couldn't tell him that he was wrong because then he'd try and figure out who it actually was that had captured Emma's heart. But a small part of her felt happy at the realisation that he was right about the people from the Enchanted Forest and their romanticising about villains turning good. Now, if she could only figure out how they would feel if the villain was a woman.

When she didn't speak Neal continued. "When it comes to if he loves you back or if he just wants you? Well, I don't know. You'll have to ask him about that. I gotta say though, if he makes you fall in love with him and then just wants to use you, I'll tear his other hand off. Unless your dad gets there first. Or your mom."

Emma laughed. "Thanks but I can do my own hand-ripping if needed."

Neal nodded. "I know, hell you're a lot tougher than I have ever been, you can fight your own battles. Anyway, I guess I wish you the best of luck with Hook." He moved over and gently pushed her shoulder with his own.

She grinned at him and pushed back. After that they sat in silence for a while. Emma was trying to find another approach to test the waters about the whole same-sex thing.

She steeled herself and took a stab at it. "I guess I'll see what I end up doing about the love thing. Just keep this quiet for now, ok? Can I ask you about something completely different?"

He shrugged. "Sure, shoot."

"When you were in the Enchanted Forest you met Mulan and Aurora, right?"

Neal frowned, wondering where this was going. "Yeah, briefly. Why?"

"Well, call me crazy here but when I met them I always thought they seemed to… have something going on, you know?"

Neal looked confused at her for a second and Emma looked back at him pointedly and raised her eyebrows. Then the penny dropped for Neal.

"Oh! You mean if they had a thing for each other?"

Emma tried to sound casual. "Yeah, or at least Mulan did maybe? I just got that vibe. What did you think?"

Neal grinned at her. "A vibe or a ping from your gaydar? Or do bisexuals have bi-dar?"

Emma pushed his shoulder with her own again but this time hard enough to knock him over. He laughed and Emma mused that it was nice to hear him laugh despite the bad news piling up on him, first his father disappearing and then the realisation that she and him would never get back together. She felt impressed by his courage and his strength.

He sat back up and became serious again. "I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention to that to be honest. But hey, if that is the case I hope Aurora ends up with Mulan. Just because I personally liked her better than Phillip. Don't tell him I said that."

Emma laughed and just managed to stop herself from snorting. It felt good to be friends with Neal again, she had forgotten how much she liked to talk to him. But she had a task to perform here so she pushed on.

"So, do you think the Enchanted Forest people would have been ok with them getting together? I mean I know _you_ are, but you spent a hell of a lot of time in this world. You're used to it, they're not."

Neal looked out the window for a second as he thought about it. "I think… I think they might struggle with it at first. But in the end I think they would just get used to it. I mean these people live with ogres, dragons and magic. At any given moment a fairy can turn you into a cricket. They have to keep a pretty open mind and just roll with things, you know?"

Emma chortled and nodded at him. She put her head on his shoulder and they sat in silence for a while, both glad for the company.


	27. Chapter 27

Regina and Henry were in the kitchen. Regina was making lunch and Henry had just been stopped from going to his room to read his Percy Jackson book. The reason Regina had given him for not letting him go was that she wanted to check that he was ok after all the drama lately. This was true but she also wanted to try to mention her and Emma to see how he would react.

Regina had just managed to drag a few sentences regarding how he was handling everything that happened in Neverland and everything that happened in Storybrooke out of him, but she was still frustrated at how equably he seemed to be dealing with it all. She worried that he was repressing feelings and fears, she was fully aware of the damage that could do to a person considering she was the poster child for it. She really didn't want her young prince to grow up to be known as the Evil King one day.

As Regina was slicing up two panini's she casually asked him about being in Pandora's box.

Henry grabbed an apple out of the bowl and ate it while talking, making sure to always have swallowed his bite before opening his mouth to speak. He had to remember that he was in Regina's house now and not hanging out with Emma.

"I didn't really know that it was happening. It was like I was sleeping and not quite woke up until Gold released me from the box" Henry replied and took another bite of his apple.

Regina's shoulders relaxed visibly when she heard that. "Oh that's good. I'm glad you weren't suffering in there. I was so scared that you had thought we would leave you in there forever."

"Nope. It was fine. I still felt tired after coming out of there, though. You'd think I would wake up feeling like I had the best nap ever!"

Regina laughed as she cut the tomatoes. "I'm afraid magic doesn't work like that." There was a moment of silence where all that could be heard was the knife against the cutting board and Henry crunching away at his apple.

Regina knew that she was stalling now, but how could she get them into the subject she needed to discuss? She realised that she would just have to dive in.

She tried to sound normal. "You know, we were very lucky that Emma and I managed to work together so well. I don't think I could have saved you without her."

Henry swallowed down a large bite of apple. "Yeah, she's pretty great! And it's good that you are teaching her magic."

Regina felt her heart take a happy little leap, as if it had experienced a tiny static shock. She started to slice the mozzarella to give herself a second to calm down. The knife slipped and she almost cut herself. She put it down and started to butter the panini's as she asked "so you don't mind that I might be spending more time with her?"

Henry was done with his apple now and was carefully dropping it in the bin. "No, course not. It would be good if you became friends. I wouldn't have to worry that you're gonna hit each other and you'd make an even better team for the next villain fight! You'd be the mom team!"

Regina smiled to herself as she assembled the sandwiches. This sounded good. But would it still sound as good to him if his _mom team_ shared a bed? Regina bit her lip as she put the tomatoes and mozzarella on the panini's and sprinkled basil on top. When she turned around to give Henry his plate her poker face was perfectly in place and she looked as calm and controlled as ever.

* * *

><p>Emma had left Neal and was just walking through the door to Mary Margaret's loft. For the hundredth time she banished the thought of how much she wanted to get her own place.<p>

"Hey guys" Emma greeted them and threw her jacket over a chair which she then collapsed unto.

Mary Margaret looked at her with a worried expression. "Was Neal ok?"

Grateful to have something else to talk about she informed them about his and Belle's plans to try and get Gold back. Despite their difficult history both her parents were glad to hear that there was hope for the man they had once known as Rumplestiltskin.

Suddenly David asked "you didn't happen to talk to Neal about Felix, did you? I and your mom have been worrying about him. No one seems to have seen his since the fight."

Emma shrugged. "No, in fact I had forgotten about him. I'm sure we'll find him. He'll stumble into town all dehydrated and exhausted and we can put him back in that jail cell until we figure out what to do with the little brat."

David just nodded as he dried the plate that Mary Margaret had just handed him. She had done most of the dishes and was now peering at Emma as if she wanted to ask something.

Emma sighed and droned "what?"

"No need to sound like that. I just wanted to ask you about… Regina."

Emma felt like a block of ice just formed in her stomach. Crap, had they guessed? She forced herself to reply. "Um…sure, what about her?"

Mary Margaret stared into space as she tried to think of the right words to say. "Is she ok? She has been under a lot of stress lately and well, now that I have seen that she really is trying to do better for Henry's sake… well, I would hate for that work to be undone. Does that make sense?"

Emma breathed out in relief. "Yeah, she's ok. I mean she has Henry with her right now and she can know for sure that he does actually love her and wants to be with her. To be honest I think a lot of her problems is that she's been lonely. She really started to believe that she was evil and that all that she had to live for was revenge. Now that she knows better, because of Henry… well I think she just needs to love someone and be loved back again. Like an adult, I mean."

Emma quickly closed her mouth, shocked at how much she had just said. She hadn't realised that she was thinking all of that until it came out of her mouth and now she worried that it would be obvious that she had spent too much time thinking about the chocolate-eyed beauty.

She stole a subtle glance at both her parents. Mary Margaret was still staring into space and just muttered "huh, yes I guess that rings true." David on the other hand had stopped in the middle of drying a glass and stared confusedly at Emma as if he was trying to read her. Emma quickly looked away.

Mary Margaret started making them all some tea and mused "you know what, I think you are right. She needs to fall in love again. I mean I know that she can never be that innocent and sweet girl she was when she loved Daniel, but maybe she can find some of those traits that she used to have if she fell in love again. If I close my eyes I can still remember how her eyes used to shine when she was truly happy, although I only saw it a few times before it all…" Mary Margaret broke off as if it was too painful to continue speaking.

She busied herself with her tea for a moment and then started up again in a strangely cheerful tone. "Anyway, we need to find some eligible men to sneakily set her up with."

Emma cleared her throat. It was now or never. "Does it have to be a man? I mean, I'm bisexual and my relationships with women have made me just as happy as the ones with men."

Mary Margaret stopped making tea. David put down the ladle he had been drying.

It was Mary Margaret who spoke first. She croaked out a shocked but not unfriendly "bisexual? We… we never knew that. Did we, David?" She looked at her husband for support and he shook his head. "No, um. No, we didn't." He looked back at his wife, not knowing how to continue.

Then Mary Margaret smiled a full-blown Snow White smile at her daughter and actually ran over to Emma for a tight hug while whispering "thank you for telling us". Emma laughed and hugged back while joking about not being able to breathe. David joined them and tried to hug both women as tight as he could. So far so good, Emma thought to herself.


	28. Chapter 28

It was about 10.30 that night when Emma was standing outside of 108 Mifflin Street, leaning against her bug with her hands in her back pockets, just watching the house. The house which Regina was in, the house that contained the one thing that Emma couldn't stop thinking about or stop craving. Half an hour ago Emma had been about to get ready for bed after a long day but then realised that there was no way she'd get any sleep. Not until she had seen Regina.

So she had made an excuse about wanting a walk before sleep to her parents and gone out. She had driven straight to Mifflin Street without any hesitation and gotten out of the car… just to then stop dead in her tracks. She had told Regina she would be back the next day and they were supposed to keep a low profile, she knew all this very well. Yet here she was, standing outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Regina like some sad stalker.

Her need for Regina was painful. She realised that she didn't even care if Regina didn't talk to her or didn't want to see her, she just wanted to be in the brunette's presence. She wanted to hear that warm, rich voice and see the way Regina moved so fluidly and yet so composed. She wanted to try and sniff the dark brown hair and maybe even get a chance to briefly touch Regina. Emma mused about how weird it was that a woman that many people described as cold always felt so warm to the touch. It was like the passion and turmoil inside Regina was burning and made her skin feel warm, even when the woman herself claimed to feel cold.

Emma shook her head. It wasn't like her to be this maudlin. She should just go knock on the damn door. Even if Regina told her to go away she would at least have seen her. But it was that crippling fear of rejection that stemmed from a lifetime of abandonment rearing its head again. Could Regina really want her for more than sex and some occasional company? Could Regina see all her flaws and baggage and still want to be with that?

Emma knew that between the two of them she was supposed to be the healthy one. Regina was the one with a dark past who was recovering and repenting. Emma was supposed to be the voice of reason and normality in comparison. The white knight to Regina's dark queen. But honestly, she sometimes felt like she had as much of a dark past as Regina did. Emma just didn't have as many people around her to remind her of having had their relatives killed for stealing bread or trying to rebel.

Suddenly the comparison felt ludicrous, Regina had blood on her hands and she had to live with that every day. She had to watch people look at her as if she was a monster… and yet, sometimes Emma thought that Regina would end up being the one to help _her_ mend and improve and not the other way around. Who else could possibly save the supposed Saviour?

There was movement in one of the windows now. Regina had moved the curtain aside to look out into the street. It looked like she was wearing pyjamas and a robe. The brunette pulled her robe shut across her chest and stared at Emma. They looked straight into each other's eyes for a while, neither of them moving a muscle. Suddenly Emma felt like she was back in that bed of leaves in Neverland, looking into Regina's eyes and somehow feeling… strangely connected. Feeling free, safe and most of all _understood_. Feeling like something bigger than her was happening, something much deeper than the human mind could comprehend. Here was that feeling again.

It sort of scared Emma and for a second her instinct told her to run away. To run away like she always had when things got too much. But those chocolate brown eyes were locked with hers and she couldn't go even if she had wanted to. Just as Emma started to wonder what she could do to stop this strange and frightening intensity, Regina smiled. It was just a mere ghost of a smile but it lingered on Regina's beautiful face and it made Emma feel safer all of a sudden. Now everything felt alright again. Not good, but alright. Emma felt her confidence returning slightly and smiled back, her eyes wet with tears.

Then Regina was gone from the window. Emma's felt her muscles tense in pain at the loss of eye contact and now that slight feeling of dread was back. That feeling of being a Lost Girl not worthy of love clawed its way back into her. Just then it was effectively pushed back by Regina opening the front door. She looked at Emma again and her hesitant smile was more apparent now. She stepped back as to invite Emma in and suddenly the blonde couldn't get her feet to move fast enough up the path to Regina's door.

When she got inside Regina closed the door behind her and turned to speak. Emma didn't give her a chance though, she threw herself into Regina's arms and held the shorter woman as close to her body as she possibly could. Emma felt herself fight with the urge to squeeze Regina to feel that she was real and that she was hers and the urge to not scare Regina away by being too needy and sentimental.

Regina stood there, held so close in Emma's arms, and felt right for the first time since she had last left the blonde's embrace. The intensity between them frightened her, she didn't like how uncontrollable it was. It made her feel vulnerable. But as she had stood there in the window, looking out at the blonde who waited for her with a frightened expression, she realised that Emma felt just as vulnerable and that this made them equal once more. She put her arms around Emma and let one hand firmly stay placed on the woman's back for comfort and the other to caress Emma's blonde curls.

She knew that she should ask Emma to go. Henry might wake up and come down for a glass of water or something. But she also knew that she could no more ask Emma to leave than she could stop herself from loving her. She was lost, lost in the blonde city-girl with her tough exterior and wounded heart. She was lost in the woman who was holding her like a teddy bear right now. The thought made her smile, being someone's safety blanket had been one of the most wonderful things about Henry. Everyone had seen her as dangerous and poisonous but that little small child had seen her as safety, love and comfort. And now this grown, strong intelligent woman did too. Not because she didn't know any better, like Henry, but because she saw something in Regina that no one else saw.

Emma breathed in Regina's scent. There was the smell of her perfume first, but underneath it was the scent of Regina's skin. Emma couldn't help thinking how lovely it would be to wake up in a bed that smelled of Regina every morning. She gently pushed her body against Regina to feel the contours of her body, to feel her taut stomach, her hip bones, her breasts, her clavicles and anything else that she could discern underneath Regina's clothing. She ran her hands over Regina's back and wished that the other woman wasn't wear both robe and pyjamas, she wanted to feel her skin. She wanted to feel that Regina was real and actually here. She nuzzled into the bare skin at Regina's neck and kissed it softly.

Regina moved away and Emma was certain that the brunette was about to be sensible, she was about to ask Emma to leave but instead she took Emma's hand. She brought the hand up to her lips, for once without lipstick as Regina was ready for bed, and kissed it lovingly. Emma could feel the fullness of Regina's lips on the back of her hand and even thought she could feel the contour of Regina's scar.

Then the brunette let their hands drop back down and interlaced their fingers as she wordlessly started to walk towards the stairs. Emma followed immediately, terrified of doing anything wrong which might make Regina come to her senses and ask her to leave. Regina lead them into her bedroom and closed the door behind them. She waved her hand slightly and then said to Emma in normal speaking tone, "I have soundproofed the room and set up a warning system to silently let us know if Henry is nearing the door."

She then walked over to the bed, took her robe off and laid it on a chair by the bed. Then she got under the covers and laid there, looking at Emma as if all this was perfectly normal. Emma felt her mouth go dry. She didn't know what to do. In the end she settled for starting to take her clothes off. She usually slept in panties and a tank top but as she hoped for skin contact with Regina tonight, naked seemed like a good choice. When she was undressed she climbed into the bed.

Regina turned off the light and now they were both lying on their sides, facing each other in the dark. Despite the soundproofing spell Emma found herself whispering as she asked "do you do as much looking into people's eyes with other people as you do me? I mean is it a magic thing or something?" Regina reached out a hand and laid it on Emma's bare shoulder and drily dead-panned "no, to be honest I haven't looked anyone in the eye for this long unless it was a staring contest." Emma laughed.

Regina's hand started to move on the naked shoulder, going down Emma's arm and giving a barely perceptible squeeze at her bicep. The hand kept moving down and very soon Emma could feel goose bumps forming on her skin at the lovely touch. Emma felt very silly for saying it but she couldn't stop herself from mumbling "could that pyjamas come off? I mean, just so I can feel your skin. Not for anything sexual… unless you want that of course!?"

Regina shushed her gently, to calm her more than to keep the noise down as there was no need for that. "Of course the pyjamas could come off. When it comes to what I want, I just want to have you with me. We can make love if you like, I find you tempting at all times but I am just as happy just holding you and sleeping next to you for a few hours. Then I'll magic you home, I suppose?" Regina waved her hand and her grey silk pyjamas was gone.

Emma felt the blood racing through her veins. Regina didn't expect sex at all? Did this mean…? She had to know. "Regina?" The brunette had started to caress Emma's arm again and made gently movements up and down Emma's creamy skin. Her low, warm voice simply replied "yes?" Emma swallowed and felt how dry her mouth still was. "Regina. Can I ask what it is you want from me? I mean, I get that you want to sleep with me. The sex we had was hot and amazing and if that is all you want then I am more than on board with that. But do you want… anything more?"

Regina made an hmm-sound while continuously caressing Emma's arm. "Let's see. What more could I want? Maybe I could want beautiful green puppy eyes looking at me like I am the best thing they had ever seen? Maybe I want someone to share sarcastic glances with when the idiots of this town act like the morons they are? Maybe I want to have all the great qualities that Henry inherited but in a blonde bombshell who can carry me to bed?" Regina withdrew her hand from Emma's arm and scowled at Emma for a second before hissing playfully "maybe I want YOUR HEART Emma Swan" and she threw herself on Emma so they rolled over with Regina on top.

Regina theatrically pretended to be clawing at where Emma's heart was and Emma laughed. Regina stopped playing and instead used her hand to gently lay against Emma's breast. Then she leaned down and kissed Emma. When she broke off the kiss she whispered "I do actually want your heart in the metaphorical way. I'm never good at admitting what I truly want or asking for it, but this time it's surprisingly easy. It's easy because first of all I thought you already knew, I have clearly been pining for you like a deifying hand maiden for weeks now. Secondly, it's easy because I know you want my heart as well. Those looks we share, surely even you know what they mean. Surely you know that we have absolutely no choice but being head over heels for each other."

Emma wanted to laugh out loud with happiness but she settled for shouting "YES" and fist pumping the air. Regina rolled her eyes at the gesture but smiled despite herself. She ran her fingers through Emma's hair and she said "sometimes you really are an idiot like your parents." She leant down for another kiss and this time Emma responded with a vigour that almost took Regina's breathe away. They kept kissing, letting their naked bodies move against each other and both moaned unintentionally with how good it felt. It wasn't long until they were making love and this time it was slow, tender and almost excruciatingly teasing before they both came forcefully, just seconds apart.

Just before they fell asleep, tangled limbs staying impossibly tangled and close, Regina whispered into Emma's ear "how do you feel about being bitten?"

Emma groggily replied "why? Is this where you tell me that you're a vampire as well as a sorceress?"

Regina slapped her back gently "no, you cretin. I just tend to bit my lovers during intercourse. Will that be a problem?"

Emma hummed happily "nope, I'm good at handling a bit of pain. Bite away when you feel like it, your highness."

Regina smiled, kissed Emma's hair and answered "good, I'll keep that in mind. And you can stop calling me _your highness_ right away. I'm not a Queen anymore."

Emma was almost asleep now so her words were hard to pick out as she mumbled "I think my body would disagree with that."


	29. Chapter 29

Emma woke up to the sound of a low humming. It sounded and then stopped for a while and then started up again. She opened her eyes to see if she could figure out what it was. That was when she realised that she was still cuddling a naked Regina Mills, that the bed smelled slightly but unmistakably of sex and that the bright light from the window must mean that it was already morning!

She sat up too quickly and felt dizzy. Regina moved next to her and mumbled "it's alright, dear. It can't be that late. I always wake up early."

Emma looked at the sun sceptically, it didn't look early. Then she heard the humming sound again. "What's that noise?"

Now it was Regina who sat up. "The alarm to say Henry is nearing the door. How long has it been going?"

Emma returned the panicked look that Regina was giving her. "A while! It's what woke me up. Seems like you sleep deeper than you thought!"

Regina shot her a murderous glance as she got sat up. She waved her hand to make the humming stop and then waved her hand again to magically be dressed in dark grey trousers and a black shirt. She got up and listened at the door.

With the soundproofing spell still in place Regina turned around and in a normal voice told Emma that she could hear Henry leaving the bathroom and going back to his room. Emma sighed with relief, she had really thought that the kid would be knocking on the door any second now. Regina looked at the elegant wristwatch she was now wearing and said something under her breath which Emma could have sworn was a curse word.

The brunette looked at her with an expression that said _if you say I told you so I'll kill you _and informed Emma that it was nine a clock. Emma bit her lip to keep from grinning. So, clearly she was able to make the ever punctual and well-ordered Mayor sleep in. She wondered if it was due to the sex or if Regina just slept better when Emma was with her. She hoped for the latter.

Regina picked up a hairbrush and began to vigorously comb her luscious but tangled hair while planning their next move. Emma laid back and tried to be helpful until she realised that she was basically just staring lovingly at Regina and cuddling into the bed that smelled of both of them. Regina realised this as well but was secretly happy that the blonde didn't disturb her thought process and if she was honest with herself, she really did enjoy the way Emma looked at her.

In a commanding tone Regina relayed her plan. "Alright, I suggest that I magic you up some clothes and then poof you downstairs. You can ring the doorbell and Henry will never know that you spent the night."

Emma nodded but then frowned. "What about my parents? I told them that I was going for a walk last night and then I never came home. They wake up quite early, even if they have taken a few days off from work."

Regina huffed and pondered the problem for a second. "Can you tell them you stopped for a couple of drinks and then got too inebriated and spent the night at the Inn?"

Emma thought about it and half sat up, leaning on her elbows. This made the duvet slide off her breasts and Regina tried her hardest not to look. Then Emma conceded that the drinks bit was a good idea but then added "however, I can't get Granny and Ruby to cover for me and say I was there unless I tell them why I wasn't home."

Regina winced as the words "tell them you were sleeping with Hook or Neal" came out of her mouth.

Emma tried not to smile at the fury on Regina's face when she mentioned Emma's two suitors but shot the idea down "nope, they both live at the Inn, remember. Granny and Ruby would have seen me. Anyway, we'll figure something out later. For now you should probably just make me some clothes and send me down to the porch."

Regina found herself staring at Emma's breasts again and at the nipples which had started to grow taut without the warmth of the duvet. She tried hard not to lick her lips and wondered at the strangeness of how invested she was in breasts all of a sudden. She had never seen them as much more than things to dazzle men with or feed babies but now… now she wanted to spend the rest of the day kissing and sucking on Emma's nipples and then cover the creamy domes with her teeth marks.

Emma grinned mischievously at Regina's blatant staring and that snapped Regina out of it. In an attempt to regain her dignity she waved her hand indifferently and covered Emma's body in clothes. Emma jumped up out of bed and looked at her new clothes. Skinny jeans and a roomy green shirt and her long boots. She looked at Regina with a lopsided smile. "Forget something there, _Madam Mayor_?"

Regina avoided making eye contact by busying herself with making the bed. Emma walked up to her and put her arms around Regina's waist before whispering "I don't seem to be wearing any underwear."

Regina grinned wolfishly and tried to ignore the heat between her legs as she growled back "that is most unfortunate for you, _Miss Swan_. I guess you'll have to learn to use that spell yourself instead of lazily expecting me to do it for you. My spell, my choice of clothing. Just make sure your nipples don't become erect and you should be fine."

Emma nuzzled Regina's ear and moaned "how the hell could I keep them from getting hard when I'm around you" while her right hand moved down from Regina's waist to the soft mound covered by the grey trousers. She let her hand cup Regina's pussy and the older woman moaned quietly. Then Regina took a steadying breath, slapped Emma's hand away and waved her hand to poof Emma down to the porch.

Emma appeared suddenly on the porch and as soon as she had recovered from the dizziness that always followed magical transportation she grinned and muttered "that sneaky, awesome little bitch" and knocked on the door.

While Emma had been recovering on the porch, Regina had washed and applied make-up with a magical wave. She made a note not to overdo it on magic today and then went to knock on Henry's door. The second she had finished the words "time to wake up, little prince. I've allowed you to sleep in but now it's time for breakfast" Emma knocked on the front door.

Regina smiled and added in the direction of the closed bedroom door "I'll go see who that is. I expect you downstairs in five minutes, ok?" As soon as she got a mumbled yes as reply she started to walk down the stairs. She took her time, trying to reclaim the upper hand in this relationship.

When she opened the door she was greeted by the most dazzling smile she had ever seen the blonde wearing, and considering how that girl smiled, that was saying something. Regina couldn't stop her perfect features form returning the big smile.

Emma managed to compose herself enough to say "hey Regina. I'm here to pick up the kid. Sorry, I'm a bit late. I hope you haven't started breakfast without me?"

Regina curbed her smile before it grew out of all proportions and said tersely "I expected you to be late and allowed Henry to sleep in. That is why I am opening the door now despite my promise that the door would remain closed if you were late. Count yourself lucky, Miss Swan."

Emma stepped in and walked as close to Regina as she dared as she did so. She took a deep breath near the woman to catch her scent and said "Oh, I count myself very lucky." Regina felt her skin come up in goose bumps as Emma passed so close to her.

Then Henry came bounding down the stairs. "Emma! Hey!"

Emma beamed with the joy of seeing their son. "Hey kid. Sleep ok?"

Henry gave her a quick hug. "Yup. You?"

Emma ruffled his hair. "Not bad. In fact I slept better than I have in a long time." Then she turned to Regina and they both worked hard at looking at each other without any romantic gazing or flirty smiles. "So, does that mean that you haven't started breakfast yet? Want some help?"

Regina was just about to decline when she thought better of it. "Actually, yes. Why don't you show Henry how your magic skills are progressing? Let's go to the kitchen and you can make us a basket of croissants while I cook some ham and eggs."

Henry looked at her in surprise. "Ham and eggs? No whole grain bread or porridge?"

Regina looked at him sternly. "Now that you mention it, yes. I'll make some wholegrain toast as well. But yes, ham and eggs. I feel like we could all use the extra energy today, it's been a hectic week."

When breakfast was eaten Henry asked if he could go upstairs and finish his Percy Jackson book. Regina say it would be ok as long as he put away his dishes and cleaned his room later. Henry grumbled but agreed.

As he left he turned to Emma and asked "will you still be here when I come down?"

Emma shrugged. "That depends on when you come down, I'm guessing cleaning that room will take a few days at least. But yeah, I'll be around for quite a while."

As soon as Henry was out of earshot Emma pointed out Henry's joy at having her there to Regina. The brunette nodded as she finished eating the last piece of poached egg on her plate.

"Yes, I spoke to him yesterday. I obviously didn't inform him of how intimate our relationship has become. I merely asked how he felt about us being closer to each other and spending more time together."

Emma drank a gulp of her milky coffee. "Ok, that's a good place to start. What did he say?"

Regina paused for a moment. "He was most certainly in favour of us spending time together. He even called us the Mom Team for when we fight villains. But I'm not sure that he would be so enthusiastic if he knew that we were embarking on a relationship. He's still so innocent."

Emma looked pointedly at Regina. "Yeah, he's a sweet kid. But he's also super smart and really mature for his age. Of course he didn't blurt out that he wanted us to get married and have ten kids because that wasn't what you asked him. You asked if he was ok with us being friends and he said he was. I'm sorry Regina but I think we'll just have to bite the bullet and ask him if he would be ok with us… dating."

Regina glared at her. "Well it's not that easy. Not for me anyway. If we were to attempt that, and I said if, I would like us to both be there. Anyway, did _you_ speak to anyone about the possibility of a romantic entanglement between us?"

Emma nodded as she swallowed a sip of coffee. She quickly relayed her discussion with Neal and coming out to her parents.

Regina gave a derisive chuckle when Emma had finished telling her about the _I'm bisexual _discussion. Then the brunette started to clear away breakfast while muttering "well I'm glad they took it so well, dear. But I'm also glad I wasn't there for the sappy family bonding."

Emma looked at her with a devilish glint in her eye and said "well, you might be next time. If you and I try to have a relationship, Mary Margaret will be your mother in law."

Regina dropped the butter knife in to the sink and turned around to stare at Emma with horror on her face. Emma laughed. "Oh come on. You two love each other, really. You have just been enemies for so long and you're so different that you constantly push each other's buttons. You better find a way to deal with it."

Regina pursed her lips but realised that she had to agree with that. In her mind she was already thinking up excuses to skip family outings and ways to avoid too many cutesy comments from Snow. That was when they heard the window break in the other room.


	30. Chapter 30

**Authors note:** Trigger warning that child abuse is mentioned in this chapter.

(Also, on a nicer note, there's an inside joke for this fandom… if you ship FloorQueen you'll like this chapter.)

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><p>They both turned towards the noise and then rushed into the lounge where the window had been smashed. Felix was staring at them while standing in a smattering of glass. If the young man had been gaunt and lanky before, he looked almost skeletal now. Emma wondered when the boy had last eaten or drunk anything. It must have been on the Jolly Roger? Or no, maybe when he was still in the jail cell?<p>

Felix stared at them now with rings under his eyes and a large tree branch in his hand. He hissed "I found you. I finally found you and now you are going to pay."

He swung the stick out towards them and they both took a step back. Regina gave an inconvenienced sigh and waved her hand to make the branch disintegrate into ash which slipped through Felix's fingers and pooled on the floor below.

Felix gave an angry yelp. "You! You and your stupid magic! You took Pan away from me! He was all that I had and you stole him from me." He looked like he was about to burst into tears and Emma and Regina both hurriedly looked at each other trying to decide how to handle the grief-stricken teen.

Felix made the most of the moment of distraction and grabbed a heavy metal statue of a horse from a side table and threw it at Regina. It struck her on the temple and she reeled for a millisecond before crashing to the floor.

"REGINA" Emma shouted and first made a move to run to her but she saw from the corner of her eye that Felix had picked up another ornament to use as a weapon, this time against her.

Emma's green eyes burned with rage as she growled "That's it! You might have lost the only person you thought loved you, but that doesn't mean I will let you hurt the ones who love me. You're young. We'll get you help and you can find a new family, one that doesn't include a sociopath with an insane fear of growing old. Give up now and I won't hurt you."

Felix screamed "you're lying! Adults always lie! They hurt you and use you and then they lie to everyone about it!"

Emma took a deep breath. She knew an abused kid when she saw one, the foster care had been filled with them. Her tone softened. "Ok, alright. I get that you don't trust me. But Felix… you don't have much choice here. You have two choices, trust me and give yourself up or I'll have to knock you unconscious and take you in anyway. I'm telling you now though, you aren't gonna get a lot of time to think about this because I want to get the person that_ I_ love most to hospital."

Felix looked from Regina on the floor and back to Emma. He huffed sceptically "you love her?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah. More than anything. Now I'll count to ten and you have to either come quietly or I'll magic you in the face… and I should warn you, I can't control my magic so you might not wake up again."

Suddenly Emma saw movement by where Regina was lying. She quickly glanced over to see Henry listening to his mother's chest. He panted "it's ok, she's breathing!"

Emma gave him a shell-shocked nod. How long had he been in the room? She focused back on Felix. The teen was standing with his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Emma was torn between wanting to punch him unconscious and hug him and say it would be alright.

She held her hand out and focused hard on her gun. Suddenly it was in her hand. Or maybe she had created one that looked exactly like her own gun, all Emma knew was that she could keep the gun pointed at Felix while putting an arm around his chest for comfort now. She looked at Henry. "Kid, call David and Mary Margaret and tell them to hurry over here, tell them I need them to take care of Felix while I take Regina to hospital."

Henry hurried to the phone and dialled the number while saying it out loud. Emma was impressed that he remembered it but then realised that the boy had to remember numbers as he didn't have a cell phone with their handy contact lists.

Felix's sobs were getting heavier. Emma couldn't imagine how lonely and lost he must be feeling. She was starting to feel really sorry for him and considered lowering the gun that was aimed at his stomach, but then she saw Regina on the floor with blood trickling into her hair and suddenly her grip on the gun hardened. Emma was truly sick of the world hurting Regina, she wasn't having any more of it.

Henry spoke to his grandparents and then turned around to Emma to say that they were on their way. Regina groaned quietly and Henry rushed over to her. She was just making groaning noises and moving her feet slightly but both Emma and Henry found it gave them hope that she'd be ok.

Henry was sitting by her and caressing her hair in an awkward way. Emma watched them and realised that she would give up everything else in the world if she just have those two people with her, safe and loving her.

Felix seemed to be calming down. The silent sobs had changed into deep breaths and sniffs. Emma assumed he was too drained to be able to carry on, she leaned in and said quietly to him "hey. At least you know that from here on it can only get better. Stay strong and I promise it will be worth it in the end."

Henry looked at them and agreed "she's right. Adults are different here, most of them are good and will want to help you."

Felix huffed incredulously and stared into space with blank eyes.

Emma watched Henry nervously. She had to know how much he had heard. "Hey kid… um… when you came into the room. Did you hear what I said? About your mom I mean?"

Henry frowned. "What you mean that you love her? Sure."

Emma felt her stomach clench. "Ok. And uh… what did you think about that?"

"Well I knew that you always wanted to spend lots of time with her and I knew that you looked at her the same way David and Mary Margaret look at each other. So ever since I got out of the box I have been trying to give you two a little bit of time alone. You know, to figure out if it's true love. Is it? What happens when you kiss her?"

Emma stared open-mouthed at him. She didn't know if she was more shocked at that he had guessed that they were falling in love or that he was asking what happened when his two mothers kissed each other. Emma stuttered out "well um, nothing really magical. It just feels like we want to do it again. But Henry… have you told anyone about this?"

Henry stopped petting his mom's hair and sat down more comfortably next to her. "Nope. But then I didn't know if it was true love or if you just looked at each other funny because you wanted to fight."

Emma couldn't hold back a resigned chortle. "Ok. Well could you do me a favour, kid? Don't tell anyone but yeah… I think it might be true love."

A hoarse voice from the floor mumbled "I can't believe you told him and the Neverland hooligan before you told me." Regina tried to sit up but Emma shouted to Henry to hold her down.

Regina sighed and slightly slurred her words as she said "alright, alright. Concussion victim stays on the floor. I wouldn't worry about me though, dear. When you have as many people wanting to hit you over the head as I do, you grow a thick skull as a precaution."

Emma felt a smile creep onto her face as she heard the sound of Regina's voice. They could hear David and Mary Margaret running up to the porch now and Henry ran to unlock the door for them. Half a minute later they were in the room both panting from having hurried like mad.  
>Mary Margaret saw Regina on the floor and whimpered "not again" before rushing over to her.<p>

Regina grumbled "no need to be so rude, Snow. It's not like I mean to get knocked out. I'll have you know that it is getting very old by now" she slowly raised her hand to touch the blood by her temple before adding "and painful."

David went over to Emma and paternally patted her on the shoulder before getting his gun out of his holster and aiming it at Felix. "Right. You're under arrest, you little troll."

Mary Margaret left Regina and Henry to walk over and grabbed the handcuffs sticking up from her husband's pocket. She walked around Felix and handcuffed his wrists behind his back. Then she looked at David pointedly. "Honey, if Emma had the gun on him it would have made more sense for you to handcuff the boy instead of aiming a second gun at him."

Then she returned to Regina who was sniggering maliciously to herself. The former queen looked at Mary Margaret and mumbled "I never thought I'd say this, but wow… it turns out that you are actually the clever one, Snow." Mary Margaret glared at her in response.

David looked shamefaced but focused his gaze on Emma. "Are you ok? We woke up this morning and you weren't in your bed. We've been calling you all morning."

Emma frowned at her own stupidity. "Sorry, my phone must have been on silent or something. I was… um... I've been…"

"Here with me" Regina said from the floor. "I heard noises late last night and called Emma. She came over and saw that someone had been skulking around but that she had scared them off. To protect Henry and me she stayed down here on the sofa and kept watch. It would seem that the person skulking outside my window was Felix."

Felix looked confused and Emma was sure he was going to say that he only arrived about ten minutes ago, so she quickly spoke up before he could. "Sorry about not letting you know. I'll make sure to text you if it happens again."

David nodded, said goodbye to everyone and started dragging Felix towards the door by the arm. Mary Margaret asked Emma if she wanted company on the way to the hospital but Emma told her it was better if she helped David. They hugged and while on her way out Mary Margaret stopped to look down at Regina on the floor. "I hope you recover soon, Regina. If you need help with anything, please call me." Regina swallowed her sarcastic comment and quietly thanked her former enemy.

When the Charmings and Felix had gone Emma walked over to Henry and Regina. Emma hesitated but decided to risk a small kiss on Regina's forehead. Regina looked at her furiously but Emma just shrugged. "What? The kid already knows." Henry laughed and Emma smiled at him. Regina just groaned and said tersely "I don't want to go to the hospital. I'm sure I'll be fine with some painkillers and some sleep. It's my decision and I clearly know better than you do, _Miss Swan_."

Emma sighed and walked over to the phone. Regina tried to look up but put her head back on the floor when she felt the stabbing pain at her temple. She winced and croaked "what are you doing?" Emma picked up the phone and looked at Henry and Regina. "I'm calling the hospital to ask them if it's ok that I move you to the car or if they want to send Dr Whale over for a house call. Now, do either of you know the number?"


	31. Chapter 31

**Authors note**: I should warn you, the following chapter is the **second to last** of this story. I would like to (prematurely) thank everyone who has read this story, reblogged it, recommended it to people and of course reviewed it. Without you I wouldn't keep writing fanfic.

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><p>During the following week Regina had recovered after a few days bed rest while driving everyone around her mad. Meanwhile Emma and Henry had talked quite a bit about what the implications of Emma and Regina being a couple would be and Emma had managed to make him understand why he couldn't tell anyone about them yet.<p>

Now, one week later, Emma and Regina had met up at Regina's house before going to the impromptu party that Granny had arranged at the diner to celebrate that they got Pan and Neverland out of their hair once and for all.

The official reason for Emma going to Regina's to pick her and Henry up was that Emma would be the driver as Regina shouldn't drive due to her newly healed head injury. The unofficial one was that they wanted to discuss how they were going to tell everyone and when.

They stood in the hallway, Henry was once again in his room trying to sneakily give them some time together and they were both grateful for that. Both women had complimented each other's outfits and done the awkward embrace of two people who don't yet know if they should kiss upon seeing each other or not.

Emma was the first to start the important conversation. "So, I guess we are going to give us being together a try, huh?"

Regina felt her heart stop for the briefest of moments. It wasn't just the fact that she had grown distrustful of anything that looked like a happy ending for her. There was something else, she knew that it was silly but she felt a sudden fear of the humiliation of rejection. She really wasn't good at being this vulnerable and honest. Without her shield of magic, power, sex and sarcasm she felt painfully exposed.

But Emma had asked the question and she had to answer it. She gave herself a quick reminder of all the times that Emma had shown with words and deeds how much she loved her.

Then she wiped some imaginary dust off her shoulder as to not have to look at Emma before saying "as far as I can see that appears to be the best outcome here. Henry knows about us and seems almost unhealthily behind the idea, clearly a Charming through and through, and to be quite frank that is all that I care about. The gossip and the possible teasing Henry might receive in school can all be dealt with informing people more and if needed… intimidating them."

"Regina, you can't just intimidate people" Emma protested but then continued "however, you do have a point. No matter how anyone else deals with it, we know that the three people it mainly concerns are happy about it. I'm sure that Mary Margaret and David will be fine with it anyway and anyone else… well they can just stuff it."

Regina laughed quietly and took a step closer to the blonde. They were so close now that Regina could see every eyelash adorning the beautiful green eyes in front of her. She inspected Emma's high cheekbones and the blonde's dazzling smile and decided that she needed a kiss before this conversation continued.

She leant in and kissed Emma chastely on the lips and Emma made an appreciative humming sound before returning the kiss. Then Regina broke off the kiss and rested her forehead against Emma's as she breathlessly said "That sounds good. However, it doesn't solve the issue of how and when we tell them."

Emma took a deep breath. "I suppose I should start with my parents. I'm guessing you don't want to be around for that?"

Regina looked at her as if she had suggested that they go clubbing with the seven dwarves. "Absolutely and unequivocally not."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Ok, I'll try to tell them tonight, after the party" Emma said and reached out her hand to caress Regina's cheek. Regina subtly leaned into the touch and promised "we will tell everyone else together, after you've spoken to your parents. We can decide on if we want to do a big unveiling or if we just want to tell a few and let the rumour-mill do the rest."

Emma nodded and thereby moved both their faces, making herself laugh as she did. Regina rolled her eyes and Emma asked her "what?" Regina moved her face away enough to be able to make eye contact. The sarcastic remark died on Regina's lips as she saw Emma's heartfelt smile. "Nothing, dear. Ignore me, I love how happy you are right now. I'm happy too. And let's face it, happiness hasn't exactly been abundant in our lives."

Emma moved her hand forwards so she could hold Regina's hand. "No, but I think that's gonna change. If nothing else then because we are going to a party tonight! Woohoo!" Emma enthused theatrically to get another eye roll from her lover.

Henry came bounding down the stairs but when he saw how close his mothers were standing he stopped. "Oh sorry moms. Should I go back up?"

Regina beamed at him. "No darling. We are ready to go. Just remember… you have to keep the secret about us until we tell people. Ok?"

Henry nodded and they all got going. While in the car Regina looked at Emma's hand which rested on the gear stick. Then she subtly placed her hand on top of Emma's and left it there for the entire trip. Emma drove on but now with a huge smile on her face.


	32. Chapter 32

**Authors note**: This is the last chapter of this story.

I'd like to apologize to Tinkerbell for what I am about to do.

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><p>It was now four hours into the party. All the food had been eaten and most of the large amount of alcohol that Ruby had brought in had been drunk. Everyone was feeling the effects of the alcohol which had been a higher percentage than expected and they had all agreed that no one would be driving home tonight. Henry was lying across a booth seat and sleeping contentedly with Regina's coat draped over him.<p>

Emma was even drunker than the others, having shots with a werewolf like Ruby was never a good idea, not even for those with a high tolerance like Emma. She was standing with Neal now and they were drunkenly discussing how he and Belle were getting along with trying to bring Gold back when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Emma turned around to see Tinkerbell, now dressed in the blue outfit worn by the nuns of the Storybrooke convent and quite drunk herself. The waifish fairy asked Emma if they could speak privately and Emma agreed. They moved into a corner and Emma smiled kindly at Tink who looked nervous.

The fairy bit her lip and blinked a few times before whispering "I've done something horrible."

Emma kept her kind smile as she slightly slurred the words "I'm sure whatever it is will be fixable. Tell me what it is and I'll try to help."

Tink was clearly losing her nerve. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you."

Emma was starting to feel dizzy and suddenly longed for this conversation to be over so she could go get some fresh air. "No, it's ok. You can tell me anything."

Tinkerbell's face scrunched up in a frown. "Well… I don't want you to hate me. Or… anyone else."

"I'm sure it will be fine" Emma said and tried to blink away the dizziness.

"Really? Because I'm not" Tinkerbell whimpered and yearningly eyed a glass of whiskey on the table next to them.

Emma was getting annoyed now. "Just tell me."

"Well that's just the thing. I have to tell you because I think I might need to apologize to you. You see I got very drunk… and lonely… and slept with someone that I shouldn't have. "

Emma frowned and tried to focus. "Ok… who?"

Tink looked at her feet and seemed to really struggle to say the name, apparently out of shame. "Well… it's… Someone who I knew a long time ago, someone with a dark past. Someone who… well… possibly belongs with you."

Unintentionally Emma's glance went over to Regina and her brain started pointing out un-helpful things regarding how the former queen and Tinkerbell had known each other and how they always behaved around each other, like they knew each other's secrets and woes. Emma clenched her fists and reminded herself not to shout as she focused her drunken gaze on Tinkerbell.

Emma spat out "What!?"

Tinkerbell worried her lip and refused to look Emma in the eye. "I'm so sorry. I know it was wrong, and even though I am not the one who swore that my heart belonged to you I am still really sorry. It was just so tempting."

Emma's attempts to keep her voice down failed now and she half-shouted "tempting?! Look, if I kept from sleeping with Regina all that time I am sure you could have as well. Damn right she belongs with me!"

The room went quiet. Emma looked around at the silently staring people until her gaze ended up on Regina. The brunette looked furious. Suddenly Emma felt like the room was spinning a bit and a little voice in her head kept telling her that she screwed up big time.

Tinkerbell noticed Emma's swaying and grabbed her arm to steady her as she gasped "Regina? What? No, I slept with Hook! He and I kind of had a thing back in Neverland. No feelings involved, just sex, and then the other night we just got nostalgic and drunk and I'm so sorry."

Emma was really reeling now. Hook. Jesus, she should have guessed. What had possessed her to think it was Regina? Was she that drunk or that dumb or maybe just that stupidly jealous?

Suddenly she could hear Regina's voice. "Right. I think that is the end of this party for Henry, Emma and me. I'm taking them both home with me." She walked over to Henry and gently shook his shoulder. He seemed to understand that it was home time as soon as he woke and handed her the coat back while yawning.

Everyone had stopped staring at Emma and now stared at Regina who was putting her coat on, some of them actually stared open-mouthed like something out of a cartoon. The brunette stood proudly as if she dared anyone to interfere and turned to David and Mary Margaret. "Snow, Charming… I'll make sure Emma gets lots of water and lots of sleep. Then you can collect her tomorrow when we all wake up. And… well, we can all talk about this then. Thank you all for inviting me."

Then the still furious brown eyes landed on Emma who was busy trying to sink through the floor. Regina opened her mouth and Emma almost winced at what she assumed would be an earful of abuse. What Regina actually said in her most efficient tone was "sweetheart. Your jacket is over by the door, don't forget it as we go. Can you walk or do you need my arm for support?"

Emma felt a smile break through her worried frown. Regina might be upset at how she had blown it, but she was taking Emma home with her and she was calling her _sweetheart_ in front of everyone. So all in all, strangely enough not a bad night. She quickly got her leather jacket and promised Regina she could walk by herself. As she, Regina and Henry got outside in the crisp winter air Emma faked a wobble so that she could take Regina's arm after all.

Regina was happy for Emma's touch. Her heart was still beating dangerously fast. She hated being the target of possible ridicule and gossip. People's hate and fear she could deal with, but any other public attention made her uneasy. Still, she felt happy that the issue of how to tell people had been resolved and she would say as much to Emma when they were both sober.

She put her hand over Emma's on her arm and let her other arm drape over their sleepy son's shoulders. Her chest felt warm and her heart felt strangely tingly and full. She had a feeling that if she took her heart out of her chest now she would see that it was a lot less black and that it was glowing brightly with jubilation.

Emma was stumbling along, occasionally muttering apologies to Regina. The apologies were always met with calm confirmations that everything was fine from the brunette and Emma decided that she would make this embarrassment up to Regina as soon as she was sober.

She wondered how she ever got so lucky as to have Regina and then her drunk brain cheekily twisted the words to ponder if there was any chance of getting lucky tonight. If not, she would happily wait. Emma knew that she had been given a family of her own now and that she would do everything to make them all happy. She knew that she was theirs as much as they were hers.

The End.

**Final authors note:** Thank you once again for reading and for reviewing! I have been especially touched by the PMs and messages about how nice it is to see a positive coming-out story. Those of us who have had to come out know what a life-changing and difficult ordeal it can be, especially for those who have loved ones who don't understand. I'm sure that we can all agree to be extra proud of those who dare to come out despite fearing a bad reaction from the people around them. _You_ are the true proud Queens and brave Saviours.


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